Brazilian lawmakers approve bill to shorten Bolsonaro’s 27-year jail term
Congressional vote may shorten Bolsonaro’s jail term while his legal team asks for medical procedures and a shift to humanitarian house arrest.
Brazil's lower house of Congress approved a bill early on Wednesday that could slash former president Jair Bolsonaro's prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament.
The far-right former leader has been serving a 27-year term since November after his conviction for a scheme to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.
Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d'etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could see his sentence cut to just over two years.
After a heated debate that saw one lawmaker forcibly removed by police, the lower house of Congress approved the bill on Wednesday morning. It still awaits Senate ratification before becoming law.
Bolsonaro's supporters in the conservative-majority Congress have for months weighed different options to ease his punishment, including a possible amnesty that fizzled out after countrywide protests.
After that failed, congressman Sostenes Cavalcante said, "the first step to achieving our goal will be the reduction of sentences."
On Tuesday, efforts to vote on the bill led to turmoil in the Chamber of Deputies.
Reduced sentence
Police forcibly removed government-allied leftist deputy Glauber Braga after denouncing a "coup offensive" and occupying the Speaker's chair, according to footage broadcast on local television.
The broadcast was interrupted, journalists were removed from the plenary hall, and the debate was suspended. The session resumed after order was restored.
Braga said he was exercising his right "not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters."
If the bill passes into law, "Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced... to something like two years and four months in prison," Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations on the bill, said in a video sent to AFP.
It would also grant parole to about 100 Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Lula took office.
However, it will be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions approved by Congress.
Bolsonaro's defence team has also asked the Supreme Court to authorise his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by AFP.
As they requested weeks ago, his lawyers again sought for the court to allow the ex-president to serve his sentence at home for "humanitarian" reasons.