Overview
- Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill that would reduce penalties for those convicted over the 2022–23 attempt to overturn the election, moving the measure to the Senate.
- The proposal, promoted by deputy Paulinho da Força, lets some sentences run concurrently and allows progression to day parole after one-sixth of a sentence, changes sponsors say could cut Jair Bolsonaro’s time to about two years and four months.
- Decenas de miles protested on December 14–15 in at least 13 state capitals, with marches in Brasília and a major rally on Rio’s Copacabana seafront featuring artists Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he will veto any effort to reduce sentences tied to the attempted coup, creating a significant hurdle even if the Senate advances the bill.
- Bolsonaro was sentenced to roughly 27 years after the Supreme Court found he led a coordinated plan to block Lula’s inauguration, a ruling that underpins the accountability push driving the protests.