Bolsonaro leaves hospital, calls for amnesty for supporters jailed over 2023 Brazil riots

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a hospital on Sunday and renewed calls for amnesty for supporters jailed over the January 2023 storming of government buildings following his election defeat.

The 70-year-old had said earlier on social media that he would leave the hospital after a three-week stay due to major abdominal surgery to treat an intestinal obstruction.

"What hurts the most is seeing innocent people with sentences of up to 17 years in prison," Bolsonaro told reporters and supporters outside the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia.

"Some say amnesty is forgiveness and what happened is unforgivable. But there was no bloodshed, no firearms – nothing," added the far-right leader.

"I'm going home renewed. My next challenge: joining the Peaceful March for Humanitarian Amnesty on Wednesday, May 7," he wrote on X.

However, his surgeon, Claudio Birolini, said he had advised Bolsonaro not to take part in the march in person, citing a recovery period of three to four weeks, a soft diet and the need to avoid crowds and physical efforts.

Bolsonaro was hospitalized for his sixth surgery related to a 2018 stabbing. He was admitted to a hospital in Brasilia after experiencing severe abdominal pain during a political event in Brazil's northeast.

That cut short a tour aimed at drumming up support for the amnesty initiative targeting those convicted over the riots after his narrow election loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022.

Allies of the former president are pushing a bill in Congress for broad amnesty that could also benefit Bolsonaro himself.

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that Bolsonaro should stand trial for allegedly plotting to overturn the election result. The former president, who is currently barred from running for office, denies any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres and Adriano Machado; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Mark Porter)