Brazil judge blocks law that would have cut Bolsonaro's 27-year sentence
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has suspended an amnesty law that would have reduced former President Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year coup-plot sentence. The ruling marks a major setback for the right-wing alliance in Congress that drove the bill through this week.
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, has suspended the new amnesty law that would have allowed a substantial reduction of former President Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year sentence in the coup-plot case. The injunction took effect before the bill could be signed, neutralizing it for now and deflating the former leader's expectations of clemency.
The legislation, pushed through Congress this week by the right-wing majority, would have offered sweeping reductions for defendants tied to the 8 January 2023 storming of government buildings in Brasilia. The justice ruled that its criteria conflicted with court precedent and amounted to a personalized amnesty aimed at specific former officials rather than a general legal reform.
The ruling reignites the standoff between President Lula's government and the right-wing congressional bloc, and it casts fresh uncertainty over Bolsonaro's post-2026 political trajectory. Defense lawyers say they will appeal to the full bench, but Brazilian legal scholars expect the court's plenary to uphold the suspension when it reviews the case.
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