President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is expected to leave the promulgation of the so-called law to the National Congress. The Dosage Law bill, approved last week after the presidential veto imposed on the text was overturned.The deadline for the head of the Executive to sign the promulgation ends this Wednesday (6), at 19:18 pm.
According to members of the Presidential Palace and the Minister of Institutional Relations, José Guimarães, Lula does not intend to sign the measure, avoiding directly associating his image with a law that he tried to block earlier in the year.
The assessment within the government is that the president does not want to "leave his fingerprints" on a project that could reduce the sentences of those convicted for the acts of January 8, 2023, including former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
With the Executive's omission, the responsibility for promulgation must pass to the president of the National Congress, Davi Alcolumbre, who led the session that overturned the presidential veto last Thursday (30).
How does the enactment process work?
The Constitution stipulates that, after a presidential veto is rejected by Congress, the text returns to the head of the Executive branch, who has 48 hours to enact it.
If the president fails to complete this step, the responsibility passes to the president of the Senate and the Congress. If the omission persists, the responsibility may fall to the vice-president of the legislative body.
Behind the scenes, Lula's allies claim that the decision not to enact the legislation is also a way to distance himself politically from the proposal, which has generated friction between the government and Congress.
The veto was overturned by a wide margin. In the Chamber of Deputies, the vote was 318 in favor and 144 against. In the Senate, 49 parliamentarians voted to reject the veto, while 24 defended its maintenance.
The numbers far exceeded the minimum requirements stipulated in the Constitution.
The maneuver avoided a clash with the Anti-Faction Law.
Before the vote, Alcolumbre orchestrated a maneuver to avoid further political fallout during the joint session of Congress.
Sections that could benefit those convicted of serious crimes, such as femicide and heinous crimes, were removed from the agenda to avoid direct association between the bill and high-profile criminal cases.
Even so, the approval of the measure provoked a strong reaction within the federal government and among allies of the Presidential Palace.
The government's base has already announced that it intends to appeal to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to try to reverse the effects of the Congressional decision.
The PT leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Congressman Pedro Uczai, stated that the legal challenge to the measure should be announced in the coming days.
Among the arguments considered by government supporters is the understanding that Congress improperly "splits" a complete veto, a hypothesis that could be legally challenged.
Despite the offensive orchestrated by the government, members of the presidential palace privately believe that the Supreme Court is likely to avoid interfering in a direct dispute between the Legislative and Executive branches.
What changes with the Sentencing Bill?
The term "dosimetry" defines the criteria used by the Judiciary to calculate the length of sentences imposed on convicts, taking into account the seriousness of the crime, criminal record, and circumstances of the case.
The new text alters key aspects of the application of penalties related to the crimes of attempted coup d'état and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
According to the proposal approved by Congress, the automatic aggregation of penalties for these two crimes will no longer exist. Instead, only the punishment for the most serious offense will be applied, increased by one-sixth to one-half.
In practice, the change could significantly reduce the sentences of those convicted for the January 8 attacks.
According to data presented by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, at least 190 people could benefit from the new rules.
Among them is former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempted coup d'état and currently under house arrest for health reasons.
Under current rules, Bolsonaro could only progress to the semi-open prison regime in 2033. With the new legislation, experts estimate that this timeframe could be reduced to between two and four years.
Reduction for crimes committed in crowds
Another point of the bill provides for a reduction of one to two-thirds of the sentence for crimes committed in a crowd context, provided that the convicted person did not finance the acts or play a leadership role.
The proposal considers situations in which a group commits several crimes simultaneously, under collective influence, in what is known as the "herd effect".
However, the reduction of the sentence will not be automatic. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) will be responsible for recalculating the sentences if requested by the defense, the Public Prosecutor's Office, or the reporting justices of the cases.
The expectation is that, after the enactment of the new law, those convicted and under investigation in connection with the events of January 8th will begin to file requests for review of the sentences handed down by the Court.
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