Brazil’s Supreme Court has put on hold a newly enacted law that would shorten the prison term of former president Jair Bolsonaro while challenges to the measure move through the courts.
Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after the 2022 election. Supporters of the law argued it could have reduced his time behind bars enough to make him eligible for release by 2028.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension, saying the measure should not be applied until the full Supreme Court holds a hearing to consider appeals over the law’s constitutionality.
The law applies to people convicted of plotting coups and is designed to speed up eligibility for sentence reductions and substantially lower time to be served in some cases.
Its legislative path was contested. Lawmakers approved it in December, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed it the following month, but legislators allied with Bolsonaro overturned the veto in April and the bill was enacted the previous Friday.
Under the statute, defense lawyers must file requests with the Supreme Court to have individual sentences recalculated. Moraes’ order bars the court from reviewing those recalculation requests until the full bench resolves the constitutional questions.
Two political parties and the press association ABI have separately filed challenges to the bill. Bolsonaro’s legal team has not yet formally asked for his sentence to be recalculated, though they submitted a criminal review petition to the Supreme Court on Friday seeking to overturn his conviction.