Brazil Lawmakers Pass Bill That Could Slash Bolsonaro’s Prison Sentence

A proposed new sentencing framework could cut down Bolsonaro’s prison time for the coup-related conviction to as little as two years and four months.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves the hospital where he went to undergo a skin surgery procedure, authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, leaving the house arrest after being convicted by a Supreme Court majority of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sept. 14, 2025. Mateus Bonomi/Reuters

A bill approved by the lower house of Brazil’s Congress would alter sentencing rules in a way that could sharply reduce prison time for former President Jair Bolsonaro and several of his top allies.

The measure cleared the Chamber of Deputies in the early hours of Dec. 10 by a vote of 291 to 148, according to an official communication. Under the bill, sentences for the crimes of coup d'état and abolition of the democratic rule of law would no longer be combined. Instead, courts would apply only the most severe penalty among the convictions.

For attempted coup d'état, that penalty ranges from four to 12 years in prison.

The proposed change would apply to Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison, as well as to his supporters convicted over the Jan. 8, 2023, protests at Brazil’s federal government buildings. Prosecutors allege the protest was part of a broader conspiracy to overturn the 2022 election results that brought Bolsonaro’s left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to power.

If enacted, the new sentencing framework could cut down Bolsonaro’s prison time for the coup-related conviction to as little as two years and four months, with all the time he spent in house arrest counting toward the total sentence served.

The bill would also benefit senior figures from Bolsonaro’s administration who were convicted in connection with the alleged coup attempt. Those include former Navy commander Almir Garnier; former Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira; former Chief of Staff Walter Braga Netto; former Institutional Security Office head Augusto Heleno; and former Justice Minister Anderson Torres. They received prison sentences ranging from 19 to 26 years.

In addition, the proposal allows for sentence reductions of between one-third and two-thirds when crimes are committed in the context of a “crowd.” That provision could result in the release of dozens of Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for breaching government buildings during the Jan. 8 protest.

The bill would apply both to those in Brazil and those living abroad. One such case is former federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 8 events and stripped of his seat in Congress. Ramagem fled to the United States before he could be arrested.

The bill’s author, Paulinho da Força of the centrist Solidarity Party, said the proposal would help “pacify” the country and allow Brazilian society to move on from the Jan. 8 unrest.

“People who damaged property or committed crimes are already serving their sentences; they’ve realized that you can’t play games with democracy,” he said in September, according to an official communication. “We have time to discuss other important issues in Brazil, turn this page, and go into next year’s elections discussing the country’s problems.”

Lawmakers aligned with Lula had tried to remove the bill from the legislative agenda on Dec. 9, but their motion was defeated by a vote of 294 to 146. The proposal now moves to the Federal Senate, where Lula’s governing coalition holds a narrow majority.

If approved by the upper house, the bill would still require Lula’s signature to become law. The president may veto the legislation in full or in part, though any veto could be overturned. Such an override would require absolute majorities in a joint session of both houses of Congress, with at least 257 votes in the Chamber of Deputies and 41 votes in the Federal Senate.

Brazil’s Supreme Court handed down Bolsonaro a lengthy sentence in September after ruling that he had proposed a coup to military leaders and was aware of an alleged plot to assassinate Lula. The military coup did not materialize, and Bolsonaro and his allies have denied the accusations and denounced the prosecution as a political witch hunt.

The Bolsonaro bloc, along with part of the powerful Centrão, or “Big Center” parties, has pushed for amnesty for those involved in the Jan. 8 events. That proposal, however, met strong resistance in Brazilian Congress and sparked large protests in Brasília, prompting lawmakers to pursue sentence reductions as a compromise.