BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — 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 authorize his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by Agence France-Presse (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 President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections.

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 8 January 2023 assault on government buildings in Brasilia, shortly after Lula took office.

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