In a theatrical twist within Brazilian politics, the country’s lower chamber of Congress, early in the morning of December 10, 2025, approved a controversial bill that would cut short a lengthy prison term of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The action is endorsed after bitter debate and physical fights, and it is a revision meant to amend the sentencing provisions concerning offences pertaining to attempts to dethrone the government. Should the Senate have its nod, the plotting a coup term of Bolsonaro, who had 27 years to life when he planned to attempt it after losing the 2022 election, may be cut to slightly more than two years, which would be a lifeline to the embattled far-right leader.
The Brasilia session was characterised by anarchy, with the lawmakers fighting over the proposal. One of the leftist deputies who backed President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva invaded the podium of the speaker and condemned the bill, claiming that it was an act of amnesty to those who plotted the coup, a direct attack on democracy.
The security agents came and used force to clear the demonstrators and briefly suspended the proceedings. The live airing was censored, and this raised allegations of censorship by the media houses. Regardless of the interruptions, the vote was driven by the conservative allies of Bolsonaro, who command a massive presence in the chamber via his Liberal Party, in the early hours.
At 70, Bolsonaro entered a federal prison in the capital at the end of November and started serving his term. The belief was because the Supreme Court ruled him guilty in September of conspiring with military chiefs to organise a coup, and that he was aware of conspiracies to kill his opponent, Lula.
His election loss also created a ripple effect with thousands of his supporters beating up major government buildings on January 8, 2023, as elsewhere. The new bill will not only focus on the case of Bolsonaro but, potentially, provide about 100 people incarcerated for the riots with parole, further dissociating the country.
The legislation is praised by supporters as redressing their perceived overly harsh punishments and as a political witch hunt. It, however, is cautioned by critics to be a threat to justice and an encouragement of anti-democratic forces.
The legal team of Bolsonaro has also separately sought his temporary release to have surgery due to his health concerns related to a stabbing incident in the past and his age, and demanded house arrest on humanitarian grounds.
With the bill going to the Senate, which again may not pass with the politically divided world, Brazil is on alert for future strain. This is a move that fires up the discussion on accountability in a nation that is recovering from the shocks of the volatile Bolsonaro regime, and whose consequences may redefine the relationship between justice and political reconciliation.
According to the observers, the shorter sentence may enable Bolsonaro to resume his life in the near future, but it does nothing much to bridge the deep divisions in the society that became evident during his presidency. How the institutions in Brazil hold on in the face of continued demands for stability will be put to the test in the coming weeks.