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Brazil's Lula vetoes bill reducing Bolsonaro's sentence / Photo: © AFP/File
Brazil's Lula vetoes bill reducing Bolsonaro's sentence
Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed a measure that would have dramatically reduced the prison sentence of former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, convicted last year of coup plotting.
Lula vetoed the legislation, adopted by Congress late last year, on the third anniversary of major riots by Bolsonaro supporters in the capital Brasilia over his defeat by Lula in 2022 elections.
In scenes reminiscent of the US Capitol riots two years earlier, thousands of demonstrators ransacked government buildings in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration for a third term.
The rioters called on Brazil's military to overthrow Lula.
"January 8th is etched in our history as the day of our democracy's victory," Lula said at the presidential palace, which was among the buildings targeted by the rioters.
He added that it was a "victory over those who tried to seize power by force, disregarding the will expressed at the ballot box."
- Standoff with Congress -
Bolsonaro, 70, was sent to prison in November after being convicted of trying to cling onto power in a landmark coup trial seen as a test of Brazilian democracy.
Bolsonaro denied the charges.
He and his supporters, including US President Donald Trump, have argued Bolsonaro is the victim of a left-wing "witch hunt."
His allies in Brazil's conservative-dominated Congress late last year pushed through a bill reducing his prison sentence from 27 years to a little over two.
Lula had made no secret of his plan to strike down the legislation.
Bolsonaro's son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro whom the former president has endorsed to represent the conservative camp in October 2026 presidential elections, on his X account denounced Lula's veto as "blatant, selective, and unjust political persecution."
He vowed to overturn the veto in Congress, which has the last word on whether a law is enacted.
Bolsonaro was convicted over a scheme to stop Lula from taking office after the right-winger's razor-thin loss in the bitter 2022 election that highlighted Brazil's stark political divisions.
The plot allegedly involved a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Prosecutors said the scheme failed because of a lack of support from military brass.
Bolsonaro's lawyers have appealed, in vain, for him to be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest, on health grounds.
The former army captain, who has suffered serious health complications related to a 2018 stabbing on the campaign trial, spent a week in hospital in December following surgery for a groin hernia and treatment for recurring hiccups.
On Wednesday he returned to hospital for check-ups following a fall in prison. Doctors gave him a clean bill of health.
Under current rules, he is expected to serve at least eight years behind bars before being eligible for a reduction of his sentence.
The bill passed by Congress on his early release also aims to benefit others convicted over the coup plot, as well as more than 100 people imprisoned for their role in the 2023 riots.
A. de Almeida--JDB
