Nearly seven months after the January 8 riots, when hordes of pro-Bolsonaro radicals stormed and ransacked the buildings housing the three branches of power in Brasília, the government sent a package of bills to Congress on Friday to increase sentences for people accused of crimes against the state and democracy.
The proposals — drafted by Justice Minister Flávio Dino, who dubbed them the “Democracy Package” — aim at increasing punishment in cases related to anti-democratic movements, so that those involved could be sentenced to jail in a closed detention regime. Sentences of less than eight years would be served in so-called “open regimes,” which allow prisoners to leave the facilities during the day.
If approved, punishments would increase from:
- 6 to 12 years for organizers or leaders of anti-democratic movements;
- 8 to 20 years for financiers of anti-democratic movements;
- 6 to 12 years for crimes that threaten the physical integrity and freedom of authorities such as the president, House speaker, Senate president, justices of the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general, with the aim of interfering with the democratic constitutional order;
- 20 to 40 years for crimes that threaten the life of authorities with the aim of interfering with the democratic constitutional order.
Last week, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his family were harassed at an airport in Rome, Italy. The case is still under investigation, but if new rules are applied, those involved would face more severe punishment if putschist motives were found.
The January 8 riots “demonstrated that the criminal treatment of crimes against the democratic rule of law needs to be more severe in order to guarantee the free exercise of powers and democratic institutions, the regular functioning of essential public services and national sovereignty itself,” reads an excerpt from the announcement released by the government.
Also on Friday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed decrees tightening access to guns and ammunition — reversing the pro-gun agenda of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
The new rules will reduce the number of guns and ammunition citizens can own and reinstate restrictions on 9-millimeter firearms and other calibers.
People who purchased these weapons under the Bolsonaro administration will still be allowed to own them, but the government plans to launch a buyback program in the coming months to take them out of circulation.
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