Lula vetoes bill that would reduce sentences for Bolsonaro, other coup convicts

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed in full a Congress-passed bill that sought to slash sentences for coup-attempt convicts, including former President Jair Bolsonaro.



The veto, which will now return to Congress for review, was signed at the end of a ceremony held at the Planalto Palace commemorating the Jan. 8, 2023 assault on the seats of Brazil's three branches of government.



The vetoed bill proposed applying the legal principle of "formal concurrence," under which only the most serious offense is considered as the base penalty, with an added fraction ranging from one-sixth to one-half of the sentence time.



Offenses committed without violence or serious threat, and not classified as heinous crimes, would have allowed convicts to progress from closed to semi-open regimes after serving 16 percent of their sentence, or 20 percent in cases of repeat offenders.