MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula vetoes entire leniency bill for Jan. 8 rioters

Lula did the foreseeable thing: remain loyal to his leftwing voters and leave it up to lawmakers to bear the weight of overriding his veto

On the third anniversary of the Jan. 8 attempted coup d'état, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva vetoed the entire Bill 2,162 approved by both Houses of Congress, providing for the reduction of sentences of the over 800 people convicted for their involvement in the anti-democratic plot.

The announcement was made during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace marking a new anniversary of the attacks perpetrated by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who stormed the National Congress, the Planalto Palace, and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

“All of them had ample right to defense, were tried with transparency and impartiality. And, at the end of the trial, they were convicted based on robust evidence, not on a series of illegalities, mere convictions, or bogus PowerPoint presentations,” said Lula.

“I want to congratulate the Supreme Court for its irreproachable conduct throughout this process. It was tried and convicted in strict compliance with the law. It did not yield to pressure; it did not bow to threats. It did not allow itself to be carried away by revenge. It emerged stronger. Its conduct will certainly be remembered by history,” he added.

Quoting poet George Santayana, Lula concluded that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Hence, “in the name of the future, we do not have the right today to forget the past. That is why we accept neither civil dictatorship nor military dictatorship. What we want is democracy emanating from the people and to be exercised in the name of the people,” the leftwing leader further stated.

With the veto, the so-called Dosimetry Bill returns to Congress. The measure sought to change the formula whereby penalties were established, “calibrating the minimum and maximum penalties for each type of crime, as well as the general method of calculating penalties.” The text also reduces the time for progression from closed to semi-open or open prison regimes.

Such changes could benefit those convicted on January 8, such as former President Jair Bolsonaro, as well as other high-ranking military officers.

(See also: Three years after the fact, the Jan. 8 uprising still has Lula's future in the balance) - Source: Agencia Brasil