In a move that has sent shockwaves through Brazil's political landscape, the country's Congress has approved legislation that will significantly reduce the prison sentence of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro was convicted and sentenced to more than 27 years for masterminding an attempted coup to overturn the 2022 election results.
A Legislative Victory for Bolsonaro's Allies
The controversial bill was passed by the lower house last week and received final approval from the Senate late on Wednesday. It now proceeds to the desk of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has 15 working days to either sign it into law or exercise a veto. President Lula, who investigations revealed was the target of an assassination plot as part of the coup attempt, has already signalled his intention to veto the legislation.
However, political analysts predict that the largely conservative Congress possesses the numbers to subsequently overturn a presidential veto. This legislative manoeuvre represents a major win for Bolsonaro's supporters, though it stops short of the full amnesty he and his politician sons had publicly demanded.
How the Sentence Reduction Works
The bill fundamentally alters sentencing calculations for certain crimes. It stipulates that when an individual is convicted of two different offences—such as "attempted coup" and "violent abolition of the democratic rule of law"—only the sentence for the more serious crime will count. The sentences are not served consecutively.
Legal experts estimate this change could see Bolsonaro's time in a closed prison regime, currently set at a minimum of six years, reduced to just over two years. This timeframe could be further shortened through existing sentence reduction mechanisms for good behaviour or activities like reading books.
The far-right leader is already serving his sentence in a special cell at the federal police headquarters in Brasília. His legal team is currently seeking authorisation from the Supreme Court for him to undergo hernia surgery.
A Broader Amnesty and Democratic Backlash
The legislation's impact extends beyond Bolsonaro alone. It also benefits his aides and hundreds of others involved in the 8 January 2023 attacks on government buildings in Brasília. This includes high-ranking military officers, who were convicted for their role in the coup attempt—a historic first in Brazil.
The bill's passage is viewed by many as a severe setback for Brazilian democracy. It comes after widespread celebration of the original convictions as a sign of the judiciary's strength and a step towards ending impunity for powerful figures. A recent opinion poll indicated that a majority of Brazilians oppose reducing the sentences of those convicted for the anti-democratic acts.
Prominent political analyst Miriam Leitão lamented the development, describing it in her O Globo column as the reopening of Brazil's "historic cycle of impunity." She argued that 2025, which was poised to be remembered as the year Brazil finally punished coup plotters, now risks becoming a repetition of the past.
Within Bolsonaro's camp, the reaction is one of cautious triumph. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son and the family's presumed candidate to challenge Lula in the 2026 election, stated online: "It wasn’t exactly what we wanted … but it’s what was possible." The stage is now set for a constitutional clash between the presidency and legislature, with the fate of Brazil's most prominent convict hanging in the balance.
