Senate President Enacts Law Reducing Penalties for Jan 8 Riot Convicts, Benefiting Bolsonaro

In a move that significantly alters the legal landscape for those implicated in the January 8, 2023, anti-government riots, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre has promulgated the 'Lei da Dosimetria'. This legislation, which reduces penalties for certain offenses, notably benefits former President Jair Bolsonaro, whose potential prison sentence could be substantially shortened.

The promulgation occurred after President Lula's administration missed the deadline to enact the law, following Congress's decisive override of Lula's veto. This outcome represents a considerable setback for the government, highlighting a divergence between the executive and legislative branches on this sensitive issue. The law's passage, initially approved by lawmakers in December 2025, redefines the cumulative application of penalties for crimes such as coup attempts, stipulating that the most severe penalty, or one of them if equal, increased by one-sixth to one-half, should be applied when offenses occur within the same context.

For Bolsonaro, who was convicted by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on five charges related to the riots, the law could reduce his sentence from the current 6-8 years in closed regime to a range of 2 years and 4 months to 4 years and 2 months, depending on judicial interpretation. The legislation also introduces provisions for sentence progression after serving one-sixth of the penalty, a more lenient timeframe compared to the previous one-fourth requirement. Furthermore, it allows for house arrest to count towards sentence reduction, a provision particularly relevant given Bolsonaro's current health-related house arrest status. This law's impact extends beyond Bolsonaro, potentially benefiting over 200,000 individuals convicted of other crimes currently under house arrest.