Chaotic scenes erupted in Brazil’s Congress Tuesday as a lawmaker disrupted lower house efforts to vote on a bill that could slash former president Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence for a coup plot.

Bolsonaro’s defense team meanwhile has asked the Supreme Court to authorise his release for a surgical procedure due tohis deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by AFP.

As they requested weeks ago, his lawyers again sought for the court to allow the ex-president to serve his sentence at home for "humanitarian" reasons.

The far-right former leader began serving his sentence in November after his conviction for a scheme to stop PresidentLuiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.

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© France 24

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Bolsonaro’s supporters in the conservative-majority Congress have for months weighed different options, including a possible amnesty for the 70-year-old that fizzled out after countrywide protests.

"Since we were unable to build the political climate and secure the necessary votes to pass the amnesty, the first step to achieving our goal will be the reduction of sentences," congressman Sostenes Cavalcante told a press conference.

On Tuesday, efforts to vote on the sentence-reduction bill led to turmoil in the Chamber of Deputies.

Government-allied leftist deputy Glauber Braga was forcibly removed by police officers after denouncing a "coup offensive" and occupying the Speaker’s chair, according to footage broadcast on local television.

The broadcast was interrupted, journalists were removed from the plenary hall, and the debate was suspended. The session resumed after order was restored.

The protesting deputy, Braga, said he was exercising his right "not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters."

The bill aims to significantly reduce prison sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat.

In practice, it would also grant parole to about 100 Bolsonaro supporters imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Lula took office.

If passed by the lower house, the bill will need Senate approval.

If that happens, "Bolsonaro will see his sentence reduced from twenty-seven years and three months to something like two years and four months in prison," Paulinho da Forca, who is leading negotiations on the bill, said in a video sent to AFP.

However, it will be up to the judiciary to reformulate sentencing under the new conditions approved by Congress.

Read moreBrazil’s ex-president Bolsonaro arrested by federal police over flight risk

‘Authoritarian measures’

Lindbergh Farias, leader of the ruling Worker Party in Congress, said the initiative was "unacceptable" as it was clearly aimed at "creating a specific law to benefit Bolsonaro."

Conservative house president Hugo Motta meanwhile faced criticism for ordering journalists out of the house.

In a statement, the FENAJ national press association and a journalist’s union slammed the "episode of censorship and aggression against the press."

The bill had been stalled for several months but resurfaced a few days after Bolsonaro anointed his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his successor ahead of 2026 presidential elections.

On Sunday, Flavio said he would be willing to withdraw his 2026 presidential candidacy in exchange for an amnesty for his father.

In late November, Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers said they would appeal his detention that "could put his life at risk" due to his frail health.

Bolsonaro has a history of abdominal issues after being stabbed during the 2018 campaign, and has required several follow-up surgeries.

The recently submitted medical documents obtained by AFP "reveal a significant worsening of Bolsonaro’s health" that requires his "immediate hospitalisation," his defense team said in the request to the Supreme Court.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)