The president of the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ), Otto Alencar (PSD-BA), granted a reduced deadline for requesting a review, of just four hours, to analyze the opinion of Senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) on the Dosimetry PL.
Bill No. 2,162, of 2023 provides for the reduction of sentences for those convicted of the undemocratic acts of January 8, 2023 and the attempted coup d’état. If it becomes law, the project will reduce the sentences of those convicted of coup acts. Among them, former president Jair Bolsonaro.
In general, the deadline for requests for review is up to 5 days, which could take their consideration by the commission to 2026, as the legislative year ends this Thursday (18) and there are no more CCJ meetings scheduled.
Several requests, asking for the vote to be postponed or for a public hearing to be held to discuss the matter, were rejected by the members of the CCJ. With the reduction in the deadline for requests for review, the expectation is that the project will be voted on this Wednesday (17) by the CCJ.
If approved, it could be analyzed by the Senate plenary today.
The project already has three separate votes, rejecting the proposal. Rogério Carvalho, Randolfe Rodrigues, and Alessandro Vieira.
Among the impasses on the matter is the doubt as to whether it will also benefit those convicted of violent crimes, criminal organizations, crimes of responsibility, electoral laws, among various types of crime.
Given the situation, rapporteur Espiridião Amin incorporated, in the opinion presented earlier today, an amendment providing that it would only benefit those convicted of January 8th.
As the amendments accepted by Esperidião Amin were considered drafting, if the project is approved by the plenary, it will not return to the house of origin – in this case, the Chamber of Deputies, which approved the matter on the night of December 9th.
On the 10th, the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), sent the Dosimetry PL to the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the House, with senator Esperidião Amim (PP-SC) – supporter of former president Jair Bolsonaro – as rapporteur.
The next day, when asked about the project, the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he will only decide whether to sanction the so-called Dosimetry Bill when the text reaches the Executive Branch.
“I don’t like giving opinions on something that doesn’t concern the Executive Branch. It’s something that pertains to the Legislative Branch. They are discussing it. There are people who agree, there are people who don’t agree,” said Lula.
Manifestations
Given the progress of the matter in the National Congress, Protesters from several Brazilian cities took to the streets on Sunday (14), in acts contrary to the approval of the Dosimetry PL. The acts are promoted by the Brasil Popular and Povo Sem Medo fronts, left-wing movements that mobilized against the approval of the project.
Experts consulted by Brazil Agency assessed that the Dosimetry PL will also have effects on the reduction in sentence progression time for some common criminals.
What is PL?
The text of the Dosimetry PL determines that the crimes of attempting to end the Democratic Rule of Law and coup d’état, when committed in the same context, will imply the use of the most serious penalty instead of the sum of both penalties.
The focus of the project is a change in the calculation of sentences, “calibrating the minimum and maximum sentences of each criminal type, as well as the general way in which sentences are calculated”. It also reduces the time for the prison regime to progress from closed to semi-open or open.
Such changes could benefit defendants such as former president Jair Bolsonaro, in addition to the military Almir Garnier, former commander of the Navy; Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former Minister of Defense; Walter Braga Netto, former Minister of the Civil House; and Augusto Heleno, former head of the Institutional Security Office (GSI).
