Brazilians protest against bill to reduce Bolsonaro’s jail time
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Brazil’s major cities on Sunday to protest a bill that – if passed – would shorten the time former President Jair Bolsonaro will spend in prison.
The former president is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
One of the lawmakers supporting the bill told the AFP news agency that it could lead to Bolsonaro’s sentence being reduced to two years and four months in prison.
Chaos broke out last week when conservative lawmakers pushed it into the lower house of Congress. It is expected to be presented to the Senate at the end of this week.
Protesters took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador and other cities to show their rejection of the bill.
Nearly 19,000 people, including Oscar-winning actor Fernanda Torres and 83-year-old singer Caetano Veloso, marched on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach to condemn the proposed changes. Approximately 13,700 people took to the streets in São Paulo.
This is not the first time anti-Bolsonaro protests have been held in Brazil. Three months ago, tens of thousands of people marched to denounce calls for a formal pardon for Bolsonaro.
In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court found the former president, who ruled the country from January 2019 to December 2022, guilty of proposing a coup against military leaders.
Judges also found that he knew about a plot to assassinate Lula.
Although a military coup did not materialize, his supporters launched a violent attack on government buildings in Brasília in January 2023, after which thousands of people were detained.
If the bill passes, those imprisoned for their involvement in the attacks in January 2023 could also have their sentences reduced.
The conservative-dominated Brazilian House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal.
However, it must be approved by the Senate and President Lula before it becomes law.
Although President Lula is likely to veto the bill, such a veto could be overturned by Congress.
