Dilma reacts harshly against attempt to review amnesty: hypocrisy.

247 - Imprisoned and tortured during the military regime, the president deposed by the coup, Dilma Rousseff, published a harsh statement against Minister Damares Alves, who threatens to review the Amnesty Commission. "This is a hypocritical, but simplistic, attempt to sugarcoat the arbitrariness of the Bolsonaro government," the text says. "The moralistic pose of the minister and the government is nothing more than a poorly constructed smokescreen, whose objective is to conceal their adherence to authoritarianism and disrespect for human rights," it further states.

Damares has announced changes to the Amnesty Commission, which is responsible for granting compensation to those persecuted for political reasons. The number of advisors on the group will increase from 20 to 27, and the new regulations limit the number of appeals against decisions denying requests to one—currently, there is no limit. "We want to understand if everyone who needed amnesty was reached or if some were left behind. We will also analyze the compensations that were granted," the minister stated.

Read the full note below: 

Dilma: "Arbitration hidden behind screens"
Former president criticizes the Minister for Women: "The government lacks the moral, ethical, and political capacity to fairly judge requests for reparations from victims of the military dictatorship."

By Dilma Rousseff

The Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights has an inexhaustible capacity to shock the country with her short-sighted and reactionary positions. Notorious for bizarre actions, which would be comical if they weren't tragic, the minister has now decided to change the composition of the Amnesty Commission.

This is a hypocritical, yet simplistic, attempt to sugarcoat the arbitrariness of the Bolsonaro government. Since, for them, there was no coup or military dictatorship after 1964, they consequently do not recognize any historical basis, civilizing significance, or moral and democratic duty in the legal actions of the Amnesty Commission. Therefore, it is a mere consequence to deny the right to legitimate reparations owed to the victims affected by the repressive arm of state terrorism.

The minister's and the government's moralistic pose is nothing more than a poorly constructed smokescreen, whose purpose is to conceal their adherence to authoritarianism and disrespect for human rights, which have wounded the country for over 20 years. The denial of the right to compensation and the ridiculous threat of an audit are just another act by those who reject the memory, truth, and history of Brazil. By acting in this way, they lose all moral, ethical, and political standing to fairly judge requests for reparations from those who were victims of the dictatorial actions perpetrated by the dictatorship.

I requested reparations from the Union for having been imprisoned and tortured by the dictatorship. I suspended the action when I was president, for ethical reasons, and resubmitted it after being removed from office by a coup. I will not give up this fight. What is rightfully mine cannot be denied by history and justice.

The compensation I received for abuses committed against me in state police facilities was donated to the 'Torture Never Again' movement. The minister pretends to ignore that the Federal Amnesty Commission, being subsequent to those of the states, deducted compensation already paid when granting reparations.

To acknowledge the existence of violent and arbitrary acts that require reparation means confessing that Brazil lived under a dictatorship, confessing that the regime exiled, imprisoned, tortured, and killed thousands of people. More than ever, we must continue fighting to prevent the repetition of dictatorships, whether overt or hidden behind smokescreens.