Paulo Gonet spoke out for the Supreme Court to release the reduction of sentences before analyzing the merits
The Attorney General’s Office presented, this Thursday (June 18, 2026), an opinion to validate the application of the (Law 15,402 of 2026) until the merits are judged by the STF. The statement signed by the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, states that the reduction of sentences for those convicted of the acts of January 8th is within the scope of the Legislative Branch’s autonomy.
Approved by the National Congress, the Dosimetry Law benefits everyone convicted of a coup d’état, including the former president (PL). However, the by minister Alexandre de Moraes, on May 9. The rapporteur assessed that the application of the law will be temporarily suspended until the STF plenary judges the validity of the provision.
Regarding the preliminary suspension, the Attorney General’s Office agreed to reject the requests from parties linked to the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to block the law. Gonet considered that the change in the calculation of penalties “does not decriminalize the conduct, but regulates a stage of serving the sentence, preserving the requirement for good behavior on the part of the convicted person”. Let’s go do parecer (PDF – 653 kB).
According to the opinion, the parties’ argument that the law establishes a type of amnesty for those convicted of January 8th is not valid. For Gonet, the amnesty extinguishes punishment and would erase the effects of the punishment decreed by the STF, which would not be the case with the Dosimetry PL, which reduces the time of sentences.
“It is not satisfied with the mere finding that the law could benefit a known group of people. The characterization of arbitrariness requires that there be a lack of any reasonable cause for the measure”declared the attorney general.
The parties allege defects in the way the text was approved in Congress and errors in the content of the law, such as possible casuistry and deviation from its purpose to help a certain group of people. The thesis for unconstitutionality also points out errors by the president of the National Congress, senator (União-AP), in conducting the session that overturned the presidential vetoes to the PL.
WHAT THE DOSIMETRY LAW CHANGES
The Dosimetry Law changes criminal enforcement rules and creates mechanisms that can reduce sentences applied to those convicted of acts on January 8, 2023.
Among the changes are:
- review of crime competition rules;
- changes in regimen progression;
- possibility of sentence reduction for participants without a leadership role;
- creation of mitigating factors for crimes committed in a “crowd context”.
UNDERSTAND SUSPENSION
The decision prevents judges from reviewing the sentences of those convicted of the attempted coup d’état in Brasília. Moraes determined that the law cannot be applied until the STF judges ADIs (Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality) 7,966 and 7,967, presented by (Brazilian Press Association) and the Psol-Rede federation. Read the of the decision (PDF – 124 kB).
The minister argued that applying the Dosimetry Law before this definition could generate decisions that would not be reversed if the rule was later declared unconstitutional.
