Brazilians protest bill that would reduce ex-Prez Bolsonaro's time in jail

Paulinho da Forca, the sponsor of the bill that passed, has said it's aimed at reconciliation and that if it's adopted, the ex-president's time behind bars could be reduced to two years and four month

Tens of thousands of Brazilians demonstrated Sunday against a bill that advanced in Congress this week which would reduce the time former President Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup.

Protests took place in the capital Brasilia and in other major cities across the country, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife.

On Copacabana's boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted No amnesty and Out with Hugo Motta, a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday. It is now with the Senate.

 

It's an attempt to protect those who tried to attempt a coup, said Antonio Edson Lima de Oliveira, a 56-year-old geologist who was at the protest in Rio. Brazil has already had several dictatorships and they were awful for the country. We never want it to happen again.

Famed musicians including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil performed in Rio, where the sun was sweltering and the atmosphere both festive and indignant. Many held signs reading Congress is the enemy of the people.

It's very important that they're here, encouraging people to hit the streets. But I think we mustn't come only to sing, we have to come to actually fight, said Lavinia Scalia, an 18-year-old organiser of student movements.

Jan 8 riot  Paulinho da Forca, the sponsor of the bill that passed Wednesday, has said it's aimed at reconciliation and that if it's adopted, the right-wing ex-president's time behind bars could be reduced to two years and four months. But it would need to be sanctioned by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the leftist president has previously said he would veto it.

The legislation would shorten prison sentences for all those convicted including Bolsonaro in connection with a riot on Jan 8, 2023 when Bolsonaro's supporters invaded government buildings in Brasilia.

Justices said the ex-leader led a criminal organisation behind the insurrection, which they said was aimed at overthrowing Lula, who had taken office a week earlier after defeating Bolsonaro in the October 2022 election.

The proposal would reduce Bolsonaro's prison time by requiring the sentences for two of his convictions to run concurrently rather than consecutively, namely the crimes of attempting a coup and violent overthrow of the rule of law.

US sanctions removed  The bill also would change conditions for full and partial parole, allowing release from full confinement to day parole after serving one-sixth of the sentence, down from one-fourth currently.

Bolsonaro and his allies had advocated for an amnesty for the former leader, but the legislation passed Wednesday focuses on reduction of sentences rather than an annulment of convictions.

Even this watered-down version is likely to be modified in the Senate following the protests, said Luciana Santana, a politics professor at the Federal University of Alagoas.

The composition of the Senate, the mobilisation and the fact that the vote in the lower house took place in the early hours of the morning mean the environment in favour of the bill is not as favourable as it was in the lower house, she said.

International attention to Bolsonaro's legal woes surged after US President Donald Trump in July imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian goods, citing among other reasons, Bolsonaro's trial, which he called a witch hunt.

That led to the worst moment in US-Brazil relations in their 200-year history. Relations have since improved, and in October Lula and Trump met in Malaysia.

The US has removed the tariffs on many goods including coffee and beef, and on Friday, the US withdrew Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from its sanctions list. He had initially been added over his role in leading the trial against Bolsonaro.