Brazil's Senate approved a law on Wednesday that introduces significant changes to the sentence enforcement regime for political prisoners over the January 8, 2023 protests in Brasília, including former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The initiative aims to modify the criteria for calculating sentences, enabling reductions in the effective time of imprisonment and a faster progression toward less restrictive regimes.
The regulation obtained majority support in the upper chamber, with 48 votes in favor and 25 against. Its consideration was fast-tracked based on a procedural agreement between pro-government and opposition blocs, with the goal of completing the vote before the close of the legislative year.
Senadores brasileños
The bill had already been previously approved by the Chamber of Deputies, so it is now in the hands of dictator Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who must decide whether to enact the law or exercise his right of veto.
The approved law
One of the main changes introduced by the law concerns the way sentences are computed when a person is convicted of more than one crime linked to the events of January 2023.
Under the new regulations, judges will be able to apply only the sentence corresponding to the "most serious crime," with proportional increases, instead of automatically accumulating the sentences for each alleged offense. This criterion seeks to avoid sentences considered excessive in relation to the individual conduct of each defendant.
The text also modifies the rules for the progression of the penitentiary regime. In the case of people serving their first sentence, the possibility of accessing a flexible regime is enabled after serving about 16% of the sentence, instead of the 25% that the legislation in force until now required.
Lula da Silva y Alexandre de Moraes.
If these benefits are fully applied, Jair Bolsonaro, a political prisoner of the regime of socialist dictator Lula da Silva for having allegedly "attempted a coup d'état," could move from the closed regime to a less restrictive one after four years of detention.
Senator Esperidião Amin, appointed as rapporteur for the initiative, emphasized during the debate that the objective isn't to grant a generalized pardon, but to review the proportionality of the sentences imposed. "The intention has always been to correct the distortions for those convicted over the events of January 8," he explained during the session.
