The National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy (CNPCP), linked to the Ministry of Justice, began studies to support the decree of the Natal pardon, which will be the last of President Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) term.
Government sources told the CNN in a reserved character, that Bolsonaro intends to repeat what he has been doing since 2019 and grant the benefit to security professionals – in particular, police and military – who are in prison.
The discussion comes shortly after Bolsonaro granted a pardon to deputy Daniel Silveira (PL-RJ), convicted by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of attacks on court ministers. Court ministers understand that the pardon can only be applied after the case against Silveira becomes final – that is, when all the appropriate appeals against the conviction are judged.
Every year, the CNPCP starts studies in June to support an opinion on how the Christmas pardon should be. A public consultation was opened to collect suggestions from sectors of society.
Once ready, the document is forwarded to the Ministry of Justice, which makes adjustments it deems necessary. Finally, the pardon proposal goes to the Civil House. It is up to the President of the Republic to have the final word on the decree. Members of the CNPCP are divided on the granting of pardons to security professionals.
Last year, the council recommended pardoning this group, but in a more restricted way. By signing the decree, Bolsonaro expanded the range of beneficiaries.
Another topic should be controversial in the decree: the granting of the benefit to sick prisoners, the so-called humanitarian pardon. The tendency is for Bolsonaro to repeat the text of last year, to contemplate people who, after conviction, began to have serious health conditions, such as blindness, paraplegia and quadriplegia.
The condition for receiving pardon was the impossibility of serving the sentence. That point should be repeated in this year’s decree. Compared to pardons granted in previous governments, the number of people affected by pardons last year for humanitarian reasons was lower.
The text of the Christmas pardon is published in the Official Gazette and has no automatic effect. Lawyers or public defenders of prisoners who fit the rules need to ask the court for release. Pardon means forgiveness of penalty. If he benefits from the measure, the prisoner has his sentence extinct and can be released.
Wanted, the Planalto did not manifest.
Source: CNN Brasil
