Star Metro - Blow for Lula as Brazil MPs slash Bolsonaro prison term

Former president Bolsonaro, 71, was sentenced last year to 27 years behind bars for coup plotting over his attempt to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to Lula.

The left-wing Lula had attempted to block a subsequent push by the conservative-majority Congress to reduce Bolsonaro's term to a little over two years.

But lawmakers on Thursday overrode his veto of a law changing how prison sentences are calculated.

The opposition carried the vote by a large majority of 318 to 144 in the Chamber of Deputies and 49 to 24 in the Senate.

The vote represents another major setback for Lula, who is campaigning for a fourth term, after the Senate on Wednesday rejected his pick for Supreme Court justice, Jorge Messias.

It was the first time in decades that the president's candidate for a seat on the top court was rejected, underscoring the deep divisions in Brazil five months before presidential elections.

- Brasilia rioters to benefit -

Former army captain Bolsonaro served a single term as president from 2019 to 2022.

His coup trial was seen as a test of Brazilian democracy.

The law on his early release benefits not just the right-wing firebrand.

It also favors Bolsonaro's co-accused in the coup trial as well as dozens of people imprisoned over 2023 pro-Bolsonaro riots in Brasilia.

On January 8 that year, Bolsonaro supporters vandalized government buildings in scenes reminiscent of the January 2021 US Capitol riots by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro has denied all the charges against him.

He and his supporters, including Trump, have argued he is the victim of a left-wing judicial "witch hunt."

Last month, he was moved to house arrest to recuperate after being hospitalized with bronchopneumonia.

F.T. Michaud--SMC