More than 20 federal deputies from Minas Gerais support amnesty on January 8

While the Supreme Federal Court (STF) decides the future of Jair Bolsonaro in the trial for the attempted coup, in the National Congress, amnesty has entered the political battleground. The project that could benefit the former president and those convicted for the events of January 8, 2023, has come out of the drawer and become a point of contention between the government and the opposition. In Minas Gerais, where political plurality has always been a trademark, the issue splits the delegation. A survey by Estado de Minas shows that out of the 53 federal deputies from Minas Gerais, 23 declared themselves in favor of amnesty, 15 are against, and 15 did not take a position. The division is ideological. The pro-Bolsonaro faction from Minas Gerais, led by the PL, is pushing for the approval of the measure in the name of national pacification. Deputy Cabo Junio Amaral (PL) echoes this discourse by arguing that the defendants from January 8 are victims of judicial persecution. “There is no coup against a building, an object. The coup is against authorities. No authority was removed from office. The invasions should be punished as vandalism, committed by a few individuals, and not with the imprisonment of over a thousand people the next day,” he stated to Estado de Minas. According to the deputy, the process conducted by the Supreme Court is “contaminated” by irregularities. “We have a minister who acts as a victim, accuser, and judge. The court completely ignored the flaws, as it has already done in the investigations into fake news and anti-democratic acts. That’s why a broad, general, and restricted amnesty is urgently needed to pacify the country and end political persecutions.”