PL leader says amnesty will not be voted on before Bolsonaro's trial after meeting with Motta

The leader of the PL in the Chamber of Deputies , Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), said that there will be no discussion or vote on amnesty next week, when the First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court will resume the trial of Bolsonaro on the coup plot.

"He asked me to come back on Monday and talk to the other leaders, especially from União Brasil, PSD, Republicanos and PP. Next week there will be remote sessions and then he will communicate his decisions," said Sóstenes, after meeting with the president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), on Thursday night (4).

"[Motta] didn't give me a timeline, but he said what he had already told you, that he will set the agenda, but without any timeline," the PL leader added after leaving the official residence of the Chamber's president.

The First Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) will resume next week, with sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, the trial of Bolsonaro and the other defendants accused of attempted coup.

Sóstenes also said he is convinced that Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) will not be able to support the agenda once the bill reaches the Senate. Previously, Alcolumbre said he supports an alternative amnesty text , which would not include former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

"The Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate shouldn't be speaking about the text; they should be the arbitrator. The speaker is the rapporteur, and the plenary has the power to decide," said Sóstenes, who described Alcolumbre's stance as "strange."

The congressman also admitted that the PL has no interest in a text that doesn't include a pardon for Bolsonaro. "We don't accept a 'light' issue," he said.

According to the PL leader, the rapporteur should be from a center-right party, such as União Brasil, PP, and Republicanos. Sóstenes said he didn't discuss names in the meeting with Hugo Motta, only parties.

The deputy stated that the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), should return to Brasília for discussions on the amnesty in the week following the trial at the STF .

Sóstenes Cavalcante drafted a new version of the amnesty bill for those convicted on January 8th, which frees Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to run in the 2026 election and pardons crimes committed since the fake news investigation in 2019.

The version has not yet been filed , but Folha has obtained access to the text. It is the most comprehensive since the House began discussing it, as it goes back to the beginning of Bolsonaro's administration. The former president is under house arrest, ineligible for election, and in the midst of a trial that could result in a sentence of over 40 years.

The fake news investigation , launched in March 2019, sparked all other ongoing investigations at the Supreme Federal Court ( STF ) targeting the former president and his allies. They are being reported by Justice Alexandre de Moraes .

Sóstenes' proposal for amnesty runs counter to the strategy of the centrão, which has defended the amnesty, but with the maintenance of Bolsonaro's ineligibility , in an effort to make viable the presidential candidacy of the governor of São Paulo , Tarcísio de Freitas ( Republicans ), who began to act on the front line of the articulation in favor of the pardon.

Meanwhile, another version of the text is circulating among Bolsonaro supporters. The proposal is very similar to that of the PL leader and is signed by Congressman Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE), the amnesty rapporteur in the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ). Valadares denies to interlocutors that he is the author of this version.

The opinion was updated last week and is also more comprehensive than the one presented last year, when the idea was to grant amnesty only to acts related to the 2022 election.

Both amnesty proposals, Sóstenes' and Valadares', would apply to crimes committed since March 14, 2019, and would also pardon electoral crimes, in addition to exempting those pardoned from ineligibility. The amnesty currently under discussion only addressed situations related to the January 8 coup attacks .