Tens of thousands of people gathered across Brazil’s main cities on Sunday to protest against a bill that – if passed – would reduce the time former President Jair Bolsonaro will spend in jail.
The former president is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup d’etat after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
One of the lawmakers backing the bill told AFP news agency it could lead to Bolsonaro’s sentence being shortened to two years and four months in prison.
Last week, chaos erupted as conservative lawmakers pushed it through the lower house of Congress. It is expected to go before the Senate later this week.
Protesters took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador and other cities to show their rejection of the bill.
Close to 19,000 people, among them the Oscar-winning actor Fernanda Torres and 83-year-old singer Caetano Veloso, rallied at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach to denounce the proposed changes. In São Paulo, around 13,700 took to the streets.
It is not the first time anti-Bolsonaro protests have been held in Brazil. Three months ago, tens of thousands of people rallied to denounce calls to officially pardon Bolsonaro.
In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court found the former president, who governed from January 2019 to December 2022, guilty of proposing a coup to military leaders.
The judges also found that he knew of a plot to assassinate Lula.
While a military coup did not materialise, his supporters launched a violent assault on government buildings in Brasília in January 2023, after which thousands were detained.
Were the bill to pass, the sentences of those jailed for their involvement in the January 2023 attacks could also be cut.
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies – where conservatives are in the majority – overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposal.
However, before it can become law, it still needs to be approved by the Senate and President Lula.
While President Lula is likely to veto the bill, such a veto could be overturned by Congress.
