Tens of thousands of people marched across dozens of Brazilian cities on Sunday to reject a new bill that could lower ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence. The legislation, passed by the conservative-majority Congress on December 10 and awaiting Senate ratification, would allow convicted criminals to serve sentences concurrently and reduce parole eligibility from 30% to 17%. Protesters denounced the measure as a maneuver to benefit Bolsonaro, who is serving a lengthy sentence for coup plotting. teleSUR
00:00Moving on to Brazil. Tens of thousands of people took the streets to dozens of cities in the country, on Sunday to protest a new bill that aims to lower experts in Jair Bolsonaro's prison sentence.
00:11Our correspondent, Premier, has more.
00:14On December 10th, Brazil's Majority Conservative Congress passed a bill that, if ratified in the Senate, would create a law enabling convicted criminals to serve their sentences concurrently and cut the amount of time needed before they are eligible for parole nearly in half, from 30 to 17 percent.
00:33This Sunday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in over 30 cities to protest the measure.
00:39Bolsonaro is a huge enemy of the Brazilian people, and now the Congress is following in his footsteps.
00:47This bill for concurrent sentencing will evolve into a coup down the line.
00:52This is why the Landless Rural Workers Movement has joined this fight in defense of democracy.
00:57And democracy in Brazil today means rejecting amnesty and rejecting concurrent sentencing.
01:04The bill of concurrent sentencing is widely understood as a rule in the country.
01:09A measure to help far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro get out of jail quicker.
01:13Concurrent sentencing would lower his sentence from 27 to 14 years and make him eligible for parole in two years and four months.
01:21We will never accept the concurrent sentencing law for Brazil's genocidal ex-president Bolsonaro.
01:30The social movement will never accept this.
01:34Down with Bolsonaro.
01:35Viva the struggle of the Brazilian working class.
01:42Critics of the bill point out that it won't just help Bolsonaro.
01:46Thousands of corrupt politicians, rapists and drug traffickers will be immediately eligible for parole if the law is ratified.
01:54I clearly understand that our fight, and the fight of all the leftist parties, is the fight against fascists, against the far right, against the American empire, in defense of oppressed peoples, in defense of the people of Gaza, in defense of Venezuela, and in defense of freedom for the people of Latin America.
02:16President Lula says that if the concurrent sentencing law passes in the Senate, he will immediately veto it.
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