Amnesty bill rapporteur rules out total pardon for pro‑coup rioters
The rapporteur for the amnesty bill in the Brazilian lower house, Federal Representative Paulinho da Força, announced Thursday (Sep. 18) that his report should not recommend a total amnesty as desired by the Liberal Party (PL) of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
“Completely unrestricted [amnesty] is impossible, right? I believe this was settled yesterday, when Hugo [Motta, lower house speaker] met with PL members for over three hours. I think we’ll have to find a middle ground. This may not please either the extreme right or the extreme left, but it will please the majority of the house,” he noted.
The piece of legislation concerns amnesty to those involved in the pro-coup riots of January 8, 2023. Bolsonaro’s allies argue that the amnesty should extend to the former president, who was sentenced by the Supreme Court to more than 27 years in prison in a trial ended last week.
The rapporteur said he has connections both “with the left” and “with the right,” adding he will seek out governors in a bid to influence state representatives, and that he hopes to put the bill to a vote as early as next week.
When asked by journalists if the bill would only reduce sentences and not grant amnesty, the rapporteur said, “We are no longer talking about amnesty.”
Most house leaders approved the decision to vote on the amnesty bill on an urgent basis on Wednesday (19). Now the bill can be voted on at any time in a plenary session.
The discussion among lawmakers is whether it will be a broad and unrestricted amnesty, as advocated by the opposition led by the PL, or a more restricted pardon, with penalties reduced.
Another issue is whether the text should cover everyone involved, including the organizers and financiers of the attempted coup, or only the January 8 protesters.
