Federal Public Prosecutor's Office again indicts Major Curió for torture and deaths.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has filed a new indictment against Sebastião Curió, known as Major Curió, in a criminal case accusing him of murder, torture, and concealment of corpses during the Araguaia Guerrilla War in southeastern Pará in the first half of the 1970s. The Prosecutor's Office recalls that the Army officer commanded the repression in the region, "resulting in hundreds of tortured peasants and dozens of dead guerrillas, whose bodies were never found."
From Rede Brasil Atual - The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office yesterday (18) filed a new complaint against Sebastião Curió, Major Curió, in a criminal action that accuses him of murder, torture and concealment of corpses during the Araguaia Guerrilla, in southeastern Pará, in the first half of the 1970s. The MPF recalls that the Army officer commanded the repression in the region, "resulting in hundreds of tortured peasants and dozens of dead guerrillas, whose bodies were never found".
"Sebastião Curió, at the beginning of 1974, in the municipality of Brejo Grande do Araguaia, in Pará, while illegally exercising the functions he performed in the Brazilian Army, in the context of a generalized and systematic attack – and with full knowledge of the circumstances of this attack – against opponents of the dictatorial regime and the civilian population, killed, in conjunction with other members of the Armed Forces not yet fully identified, Cilon da Cunha Brum and Antônio Teodoro de Castro," says the indictment, signed by eight federal prosecutors, members of the Araguaia task force.
"Subsequently, the accused, coordinating actions specifically aimed at achieving the desired result, with the assistance of other military personnel, concealed the victims' bodies, which remain hidden to this day, in order to erase traces of the homicide and remain unpunished," the prosecutors added. The militants Cilon, "Simão," and Antônio, "Raul," were executed by Operation Marajoara, "in which Sebastião Curió played a prominent role."
This is the third indictment against Curió, who is 84 years old. It is also the 39th in which the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) is working on cases related to crimes committed during the dictatorship, and the fifth specifically concerning the Araguaia Guerrilla, which cites the forced disappearance of 12 victims. "In total, in Brazil, 59 state agents or people serving the Union have been identified as perpetrators of serious human rights violations committed against 52 people," states the Public Prosecutor's Office, which last month launched a website that compiles all the cases, among other information: http://www.justicadetransicao.mpf.mp.br.
The first complaint dates back to 2012, concerning the kidnapping of PCdoB militants in Araguaia. The case began in Marabá (PA), but Curió obtained a habeas corpus granted by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1). The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) appealed to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). The second complaint, concerning homicides and concealment of the bodies of three militants, was filed in 2015. The judge of first instance rejected the action; the MPF also appealed and is awaiting a decision from the same TRF1.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), the retired military officer could face charges of aggravated intentional homicide and concealment of a corpse. The despicable motive for the homicides, according to the indictment, consisted of "the pursuit of preserving power through violence and the use of state apparatus, in a context of widespread and systematic attacks against opponents of the dictatorial state, to repress and eliminate dissidents opposed to the regime and guarantee impunity for the perpetrators of crimes of homicide, kidnapping, concealment of corpses, and other serious human rights violations," state the prosecutors of the task force.