# Brazil’s lower house approves bill that could cut Bolsonaro’s sentence
*Event date: 2025-12-19*
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill that would reduce penalties for several crimes, including attempted coup d’état, opening the possibility of a much shorter sentence for former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The measure passed after a turbulent debate in which one lawmaker was forcibly removed by police and journalists were taken out of the chamber. AFP via France 24 reported that the bill now goes to the Senate, where it must be approved before it can become law. Until then, the change remains only a legislative proposal, not a completed reform.
The political significance is obvious. Bolsonaro is already serving a 27-year sentence after his conviction in a scheme to stop Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. A reduction in penalties could bring that sentence down to just over two years, according to the report, though any final effect would depend on how the judiciary applies the new rules.
The bill emerged after months of discussion in Congress over how to deal with Bolsonaro’s punishment. Supporters had previously explored the idea of a full amnesty, but that effort lost momentum after protests. The new approach is narrower: instead of erasing the convictions outright, it would lower the available penalties and potentially reopen sentencing calculations.
That shift matters because it reveals how Bolsonaro’s allies are searching for a route that is politically and legally more viable than amnesty. Congressman Sostenes Cavalcante said the first step toward that goal would be sentence reduction. Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations, said the proposal could reduce Bolsonaro’s prison term to roughly two years and four months if passed.
The bill would also affect many of Bolsonaro’s supporters who were imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia. The report says around 100 of them could become eligible for parole under the new framework. That means the legislation has consequences well beyond the former president himself.
The chamber session showed how explosive the issue remains. Local television footage showed deputy Glauber Braga being removed after denouncing what he called a “coup offensive” and occupying the Speaker’s chair. The broadcast was interrupted, the plenary hall was cleared of journalists and the debate was suspended before order was restored.
That chaos reflects the wider political divide surrounding Bolsonaro. On one side are lawmakers who see the bill as a corrective to excessive punishment; on the other are critics who argue it is a tailored intervention designed to ease the fate of a former leader convicted in connection with an attempted democratic rupture.
The ruling Workers’ Party denounced the initiative as unacceptable and said it was clearly designed to benefit Bolsonaro. Journalists’ groups also criticised the removal of reporters from the chamber, calling it censorship and aggression against the press.
There is still a long way to go before any reduction in sentence becomes real. The Senate must ratify the bill, and even then the judiciary would have to recalculate sentences. But the lower house vote alone shows that Bolsonaro’s allies are still pushing to change the legal landscape around his conviction.
For now, the bill has given that push momentum, and it has done so in public, amid open confrontation inside Congress.
