In the early hours of December 10, 2025, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved the Dosimetry Bill by 291 to 148 votes, reducing sentences for those convicted in the January 8, 2023 coup plot, benefiting former President Jair Bolsonaro. The session was chaotic, including the six-month suspension of Deputy Glauber Braga's mandate instead of expulsion. The bill now heads to the Senate, where the government seeks to delay it.
The approval of the Dosimetry Bill took place amid tensions in the Chamber, presided over by Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB). The text, reported by Paulinho da Força (Solidariedade-SP), changes penalty dosimetry for crimes like coup d'état and violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, avoiding cumulative penalties in similar contexts and reducing closed regime time from one-quarter to one-sixth of the sentence. For Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and three months, the total penalty could drop to about 22 years, with closed regime reduced from 6-8 years to 2-3 years, allowing faster progression to semi-open.
Motta justified the agenda as a way to 'clean the slate', denying pressure from pre-candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), who conditioned his withdrawal to amnesty for his father. Centrão allies were surprised by the decision, and Lula's government, through senators like Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP), seeks to delay Senate voting to 2026, with possible presidential veto. Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) wants deliberation in 2025, but faces resistance in the CCJ, chaired by Otto Alencar (PSD-BA).
In parallel, the session saw twists in Glauber Braga's (PSOL-RJ) case, suspended for six months for assaulting an MBL militant in 2024, following the Ethics Council's expulsion recommendation. Braga occupied the Presiding Board in protest on Tuesday (9), leading to legislative police intervention that forcibly removed him, interrupting transmission and restricting journalists. Braga and allies, like Sâmia Bomfim (PSOL-SP) and Célia Xakriabá (PSOL-MG), filed with the PGR against Motta for 'abuse of power' and assaults, including bodily injury and gender-based violence.
In the STF, ministers like Edson Fachin, Gilmar Mendes, and Alexandre de Moraes view the bill as a violation of judicial autonomy, anticipating overturn if passed, for retroactively altering consolidated decisions. The PT, led by Edinho Silva, called protests for December 14 against the bill and the indigenous temporal framework.
