The Brazilian Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that could significantly reduce prison sentences for those involved in the 2022-2023 coup attempt, including former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The bill, which passed the committee with 48 votes in favor and 25 against after clearing the Chamber of Deputies last week, offers a direct benefit—effectively a virtual amnesty—to Bolsonaro and other coup plotters who sought to overturn the popular will and prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

RELATED: Brazil’s Supreme Court Resumes Trial in 2022 Coup Conspiracy

Key Provisions of the Bill

The legislation aims to drastically shorten effective prison time for those convicted of crimes against the Democratic Rule of Law. Its main mechanisms include:

Reduced Sentences: Prison terms for participants who acted “in a crowd context” and are not considered leaders or financiers would be cut by one- to two-thirds.

Easier Access to Semi-Open Regime: The bill lowers the requirement to become eligible for a semi-open regime from serving 25% of a sentence to just 16%.

Non-Cumulative Sentences: In cases of simultaneous convictions for coup attempt and attempted abolition of the state, sentences would not be added together; only the most severe penalty would apply.

Direct Impact on Bolsonaro

Convicted to 27 years and three months for coordinating the attack on the constitutional order, Bolsonaro stands to gain the most. The new rules would extinguish his separate conviction for abolishing the democratic state, reducing his total sentence to just over two years.

Combined with the new 16% threshold, this could see him released from full imprisonment within two to three years, transferring to a regime where he would only sleep and spend weekends in jail—instead of remaining incarcerated until 2033 under current law.

The committee’s decision has been condemned by broad social, judicial, and progressive sectors as a “concealed amnesty” and a “political coup within the failed coup.”

Critics argue this represents a strategic victory for the far right, potentially reactivating Bolsonaro’s political career in the medium term.

Brazil’s Senate approves bill to reduce former president Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence to just over two years in prison, despite expected resistance from Supreme Court and President Lula da Silva pic.twitter.com/m7fMdE2exP

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 18, 2025

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