São Paulo (Brazil), 18 December (LaPresse/AP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has announced that he will veto a bill passed by Parliament that could significantly reduce the 27-year prison sentence of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was arrested in November for attempting a coup. The Senate approved the bill late on Wednesday evening local time, following its approval by the Chamber of Deputies. ‘With all due respect to the National Congress, when it arrives on my desk, I will veto it,’ Lula told reporters in Brasilia, stressing that those who committed crimes against Brazilian democracy ‘will have to pay for their actions.’ The bill, which would reduce the final sentences for those convicted on multiple charges for the attempted coup in January 2023 and speed up their transition from harsher prison regimes to more lenient ones for convicts, is also expected to be challenged in the Supreme Court.
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