President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated, this Thursday (18), that he will veto the call Dosimetry PL. The text provides for the reduction of sentences for those convicted of the anti-democratic acts of January 8, 2023 and the attempted coup d’état.
“The people who committed crimes against Brazilian democracy will have to pay for the acts committed against this country. The trial has not even ended, there are still people being convicted, and people are already deciding to reduce the sentences. I want to tell you that, with all the respect I have for the National Congress, the moment it arrives at my desk, I will veto it. This is no secret to anyone”, stated Lula.
“Congress has the right to do things, I have the right to veto, then they have the right to override my veto or not. That’s how the game is,” he added, in a press interview at Palácio do Planalto.
The president also argued that it is necessary to “finish this process” and also investigate the financiers of the coup acts.
“We need to take what happened on January 8, 2023 very seriously and there are people who want us to forget, but we cannot forget. Because if democracy forgets the importance it has for a nation, we end up losing the game”, he stated.
This Wednesday (17), in a nominal vote, the Senate approved the Dosimetry PL with 48 votes in favor and 25 against. The project now goes to presidential approval.
On Wednesday (17), senators approved in the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) the opinion of senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC), which reduces the sentences of those convicted of coup acts, including former president Jair Bolsonaro. Amin, who is in favor of amnesty, argues that the reduction of sentences aims to “pacify the country”. Opponents of the project claim that it does not represent the country’s desires and was built to benefit a political group that attacked democracy.
The Dosimetry PL determines that the crimes of attempt against the Democratic Rule of Law and coup d’état, when committed in the same context, 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 of calculating sentences, also reducing the time for progression from the closed to semi-open or open prison regime”.
The 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).
This Thursday, four benches of PT, PSB, PCdoB and PSOL in the Chamber of Deputies filed a writ of mandamus with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) asking for the project to be suspended.
On Thursday morning, Lula received journalists for breakfast at Palácio do Planalto, followed by a press conference. He is accompanied by Finance Ministers Fernando Haddad; from the Civil House, Rui Costa; of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira; and Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva.
