The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) has 4 votes to judge the death of Rubens Paiva and other victims of the military dictatorship.
The central discussion revolves around the application of the Amnesty Law to human rights violations committed by state agents during the military regime.
247 - The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) began this week the trial regarding the continuation of investigations into the deaths of former congressman Rubens Paiva and two other victims of the military dictatorship. The case's rapporteur, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, voted for the proceedings to have "general repercussion," ensuring that the decisions can be applied to other similar cases. According to the rapporteur... Estadão Content, was accompanied by ministers Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the Court, Luiz Fux and Flávio Dino. The trial continues in the virtual plenary until next Friday (16).
The central discussion revolves around the application of the Amnesty Law to human rights violations committed by state agents during the military regime. In his vote, Moraes argued that, because it concerns "a very serious violation of human rights that has lasted for almost 50 years," the general repercussion is "indisputable." According to the report, he also emphasized that the three cases analyzed involve issues of great relevance to human rights in Brazil.
General repercussion is a legal mechanism that allows decisions on issues analyzed in extraordinary appeals to be applied to other similar cases, considering economic, political, social, or legal issues of great impact.
In the three cases analyzed, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) seeks the criminal prosecution of public agents involved in the disappearance of opponents of the regime. The MPF argues that the crimes in question are crimes against humanity and, therefore, would not be covered by the Amnesty Law. The thesis of "permanent crime" or "continued crime" has been the basis for several MPF actions, which have not been accepted by the courts due to the restrictions imposed by the amnesty.
Enacted by then-President João Batista Figueiredo, the Amnesty Law of 1979 prohibited the punishment of crimes committed before its enactment, granting pardons for political and related crimes that occurred between September 2, 1961, and August 15, 1979.
Among those accused by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office are military officers José Antônio Nogueira Belham, Rubens Paim Sampaio, Raymundo Ronaldo Campos, Jurandir Ochsendorf e Souza, Jacy Ochsendorf e Souza, Luiz Mário Valle Correia Lima, Luiz Timótheo de Lima, Roberto Augusto de Mattos Duque Estrada, Dulene Aleixo Garcez dos Reis, and Valter da Costa Jacarandá, as well as forensic doctor Harry Shibata.
The three cases deal with the disappearance of Rubens Paiva and Mário Alves de Souza Vieira, whose bodies were never found, and the death of Helber José Gomes Goulart, whose remains were identified in the Perus Cemetery in 1992.
The discussion about holding agents of the dictatorship accountable has gained renewed momentum with the release of the film. The In Between"The Movie," by Walter Salles, portrays the story of Eunice Paiva after the disappearance of her husband, Rubens Paiva. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Rubens Paiva was arrested at his home on January 20, 1971, and taken to the Department of Information Operations-Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-Codi) in Rio de Janeiro, where he was tortured and killed. The former congressman had his mandate revoked by the 1964 military coup and went into exile for nine months, later returning to Brazil where he worked as an engineer. His arrest occurred after the military intercepted letters from exiles addressed to him.
The Supreme Court's ruling could set a historic precedent for reviewing the Amnesty Law, allowing crimes committed by state agents during the dictatorship to be investigated and prosecuted, even more than four decades after the end of the military regime.
