Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vetoed a bill to block the reduction of prison sentence of far-right former President, Jair Bolsonaro, who is convicted of plotting a coup against the Lula-led government last year.
Speaking to the press after vetoing the bill, Lula said January 8 marks “our democracy’s victory”. “It was a victory over those who tried to seize power by force, discrediting the will of the people to elect leaders according to their own free will,” he said.
The country’s Congress, dominated by conservatives, had passed a bill which might have reduced Bolsonaro’s sentence from 27 years to two years, but Lula had expressed from the beginning his intention to veto the legislation.
Lula, the country’s left-wing President, announced his decision three years after Bolsonaro and his supporters rioted in the capital, Brasília, following the latter’s 2022 election loss, in an event that’s often compared to the US Capitol storming in 2021 that followed US President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Also Read: Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence begins
Bolsonaro’s supporters had damaged government buildings and demanded that Brazil’s army overthrow Lula, who had just taken oath of office. The plan allegedly also included the assassination of Lula, his Vice President, and Supreme Court justice, Alexandre de Moraes.
The former President denies the charges and alleges that his conviction was a conspiracy hatched by the current government, in a similar vein to Similar Trump’s allegations, who is seen as a close ally of Bolsonaro.
Meanwhile, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of Bolsonaro, said President Lula’s veto was a “blatant, selective, and unjust political persecution”.
A majority of the Brazilian population has supported Lula’s move, and it seems highly unlikely that Bolsonaro will get any relief, despite the Congress having the power to overrule Lula’s veto.
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