A justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) suspended the application of a law today that would have allowed for the review and reduction of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence, pending a final ruling on the legislation’s legality.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the “suspension of the law’s application” in the interest of “legal certainty” until appeals challenging its “constitutionality” are judged in a plenary session by the full Supreme Court.
The law, originally passed by Parliament in December, was vetoed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the following month. However, lawmakers overturned the presidential veto at the end of April, and the law was officially promulgated this past Friday.
The new legislation applies to all individuals convicted of attempted coups d’état and was designed to shorten the timeframes required for sentencing reviews. This could have directly benefited Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Supreme Court after being found guilty of conspiring to remain in power following his 2022 electoral defeat to Lula.
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Under the provisions of the now-suspended law, defense attorneys for those convicted would have had to submit individual requests for the Supreme Court to re-evaluate the terms of their sentences on a case-by-case basis. Justice Moraes’ decision effectively halts the analysis of these requests until the STF meets in a plenary session to address a challenge filed by left-wing parties regarding the law’s constitutionality.
On Friday, Jair Bolsonaro’s legal team filed a new request with the Supreme Court seeking to annul his 27-year sentence for the attempted coup. The 71-year-old former far-right leader (2019–2022) has been serving his sentence under house arrest in Brasília since late March due to health reasons, following multiple hospitalizations since his initial imprisonment in November.
His lawyers are requesting that Bolsonaro be “acquitted” of “all crimes of which he is accused.” Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the proceedings regarding the former president, has rejected several similar appeals in the past.
