At the end of November, Jair Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year sentence for conspiring to overthrow the government, but the new legislation would shorten his stay behind bars to less than two and a half years. The law would also allow the release of hundreds of his supporters convicted of attacks on government buildings.
Brazil’s Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that could reduce former President Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence for plotting to overthrow the government. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
- The Brazilian Senate passed a law to reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence.
- President Lula da Silva has promised to veto the bill.
- Congress can override any presidential veto by voting.
- Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting to overthrow the government.
- The sentence is to be reduced from 27 years to 2 years.
The president promised to veto the proposal
The vote in the upper chamber of the Brazilian parliament ended with 48 votes in favor to 25 against. The proposal will now go to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has vowed to veto it. AFP reminds that the potential veto could be broken by Congress. The lower house of parliament approved the proposal last week.
The 70-year-old ex-president began serving his sentence in late November on a final conviction for conspiring to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.
From 27 years to two years and four months?
“Bolsonar’s sentence will be reduced from 27 years and three months to about two years and four months in prison,” politician Paulinho da Forca, who led negotiations on the bill, said in a video sent to AFP. The legislation would also allow the parole of about a hundred Bolsonaro supporters jailed for an attack on government buildings on January 8, 2023, shortly after Lula took office.
Bolsonaro’s supporters in the parliament have been considering various options for months, including amnesty for the former leader, but this has sparked mass protests in the country, AFP added.
