Amnesty International Report 1999 - Brazil

Torture and ill-treatment by police were reported to be widespread. Conditions of detention amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Hundreds of people were killed by police and death squads linked to the security forces in circumstances suggesting extrajudicial executions. Human rights defenders were threatened, harassed and attacked. Most of those responsible for human rights violations continued to benefit from impunity. Land reform activists faced criminal charges which appeared to be politically motivated.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso was re-elected for a second four-year term in October. Legislative bills introduced by the government which could potentially reduce impunity for human rights violations were still under discussion (see Amnesty International Report 1998).

In April the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights criticized Brazil's failure to protect João Canuto, a rural trade unionist killed in Pará state in 1985 following a number of death threats, and its slowness in bringing those responsible to justice. In December Brazil announced its acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

There were widespread reports of torture in civil police stations and of ill-treatment in prisons and juvenile detention centres where conditions were often cruel, inhuman or degrading. Remand and convicted prisoners in the civil police precincts in Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais alleged that they were routinely beaten and subjected to methods of torture including the "parrot's perch" (suspension by the legs and arms from a metal bar), near-asphyxiation and electric shocks. In February a civil police special unit entered the Depatri police station in São Paulo and allegedly beat, tortured and shot at some 200 of the 356 prisoners. In January and February prisoners held in the "masmorra" ("dungeon") wing of the Casa de Detenção prison in São Paulo state were allegedly beaten with iron bars and wooden clubs by guards.

Severe overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in most prisons and police jails resulted in the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Medical care for detainees, including those with terminal illness or severe disability, was generally inadequate or non-existent. A number of state authorities denied local and international human rights organizations access to prisons and police stations. Conditions in Muniz Sodré prison in Rio de Janeiro remained extremely overcrowded following the transfer there of 362 juvenile offenders in December 1997.

Unlawful police killings of civilians in Rio de Janeiro state continued to rise (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998); according to the Civil Police, between January and September police reportedly killed 511 civilians. In São Paulo state civil and military police reportedly killed 525 civilians during the year, an increase on previous years.

In August, four military police officers in Salvador, capital of Bahia state, reportedly attempted to kill two transvestites who were forced to strip and enter the sea; one drowned. By the end of the year the police officers had been dismissed and were awaiting trial in a civilian prison, but their commanding officer, who was under investigation, remained on active service.

In February Samuel dos Santos and Antônio Marcos da Rocha were shot dead by military police officers in Curitiba, Paraná state. The two young evangelical Christians "disappeared" while praying outside at night. Their bodies were dumped in a reservoir three days later. One police officer had been arrested in connection with the killings by the end of the year. Few of the civil and military police officers believed to be responsible for extrajudicial executions of unarmed civilians, including minors, in Paraná in previous years have been brought to justice or suspended from active duty.

There were continued reports of violent attacks on indigenous communities, landless peasants, and their leaders in the context of land disputes. In May Francisco de Assis Araújo (known as "Chicão"), a leader and advocate for the land rights of the Xucuru people in Pernambuco state, was killed. He had received numerous death threats in previous years because of his campaigning activities. For example, in 1992 his name had appeared on a death list along with those of 20 other indigenous leaders. An investigation into the killing was launched by federal police, but the outcome was not known at the end of the year. Most of those responsible for killings in the context of land disputes continued to benefit from the prevailing climate of impunity.

In March Valentim Silva Serra (known as "Doutor"), and Onalício Barros (known as "Fusquinha"), two local leaders of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), were killed by gunmen in the context of a land dispute in southern Pará state. By the end of the year, nine estate owners had been charged with homicide. Eleven military police officers, nine of whom were accused of involvement in the Eldorado de Carajás massacre of landless peasants in the same region (see below), were charged with seeking to pervert the course of justice. However, they had not been removed from active duty by the end of the year.

Death squads, composed of off-duty police officers, continued to act with impunity in a number of states. In January in Mato Grosso do Sul, 10-year-old Carlos Cezar Fernandes was abducted, possibly sexually assaulted, and murdered. His death may have been a reprisal killing because his mother had implicated local police officers and politicians in her brother's murder in September 1997. A police investigation into the child's murder was only initiated after the Ministry of Justice intervened. Two men were arrested and confessed that they had been contracted by local military police officers to carry out the killing. They also admitted murdering another 12-year-old boy whom they mistook for Carlos Cezar Fernandes.

Human rights defenders were harassed, threatened and attacked. In September gunmen attempted to kill Frei Rodrigo de Castro Amédée Péret Humberto, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk and coordinator of a diocesan pastoral organization in Minas Gerais state, when he and four other land activists went to mediate in a dispute between landless peasants and local landowners. The authorities had failed to investigate previous attacks on Frei Rodrigo or to disarm local landowners. They had also failed to investigate reports that in previous incidents military police officers had cooperated with armed militias formed by local landowners in Santa Vitória.

In April members of the Rio de Janeiro-based group Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais, Torture No More, received a number of anonymous death threats and suffered other forms of intimidation. The threats followed the group's public campaign against the promotion of an army doctor alleged to have participated in torture under the military government which held power between 1964 and 1985.

The military police officers involved in the shooting of Vágner Marcos da Silva in August 1997 in Rio de Janeiro remained on active service; one was promoted and another was recommended for a "bravery award" (see Amnesty International Report 1998). In January Vágner Marcos da Silva, who survived the shooting despite severe injuries, was charged with drug dealing and attempted homicide of the police. He was denied adequate medical treatment and there were grave concerns about his deteriorating health. By the end of the year no investigation had been opened into the police officers' actions and Vágner Marcos da Silva remained in prison awaiting trial.

In August the fifth and final defendant, a former military police officer, was tried in relation to the 1993 Candelária massacre in Rio de Janeiro in which seven street children and one youth were killed (see Amnesty International Reports 1993, 1997 and 1998). The officer was found guilty of all eight homicides and sentenced to a total of 204 years' imprisonment.

In November the third trial was held in Rio de Janeiro in connection with the 1993 Vigário Geral massacre in which 21 people were killed (see Amnesty International Reports 1994, 1997 and 1998). Ten former military police officers were acquitted. An appeal lodged by the prosecution was pending at the end of the year. The two former military police officers who had already been convicted in the case became eligible for a retrial after the Supreme Court reduced their sentences on a technicality. The retrial had not taken place by the end of the year. The other 36 officers charged in connection with this case were still awaiting trial at the end of the year.

Thirteen Rondônia state military police officers were indicted in April for the killing of 10 peasants in Corumbiara in August 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996) and were awaiting trial by a civilian court at the end of the year.

No date was set for the trial of 153 Pará state military police officers collectively charged with killing 19 landless peasants in Eldorado de Carajás in April 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997). A decision by the courts on whether the trial should be transferred to the state capital of Belém do Pará was pending at the end of the year. Prosecutors argued that if the trial was held in Curionópolis, where the massacre took place, witnesses would be in danger because the military police officers accused of the killings were still on active service.

In February the government reached a "friendly settlement" with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over the deaths of 18 prisoners who died of asphyxiation in the 42nd Police Precinct in São Paulo in 1989. They were among 51 prisoners who were beaten and forced into a small cell with no ventilation (see Amnesty International Report 1990). No one had been brought to justice in connection with the deaths. In order to avoid a report critical of the Brazilian authorities, the federal government acknowledged responsibility and the state authorities agreed to compensate the victims' relatives.

In March courts ruled that 85 of the 122 military police officers allegedly involved in the massacre of 111 prisoners in the Casa de Detenção prison in São Paulo in 1992 (see Amnesty International Report 1993) should be charged and tried before a civilian court. In April the federal government acknowledged responsibility for the massacre. However, the Colonel in charge of the operation enjoyed parliamentary immunity from prosecution as a state deputy.

In October a former military police officer was sentenced to 65 years' imprisonment for unlawfully shooting dead one unarmed civilian, Mario José Josino, and attempting to kill three others in Diadema, São Paulo state in March 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The civilian trial of nine other military police officers in connection with the shootings was continuing at the end of the year.

Land reform activists, including trade unionists, rural workers and members of the clergy, continued to be held under preventive detention orders and to have politically motivated criminal charges brought against them. In most cases charges appeared to be prompted solely by their non-violent activities in favour of land reform. Dutch development worker Winifridus Overbeeck was arrested in March by the Espírito Santo Federal Police under the 1980 National Security law, accused of "interfering in internal political affairs". He was threatened with deportation for his alleged involvement in a demarcation dispute between the Tupiniquim-Guarani indigenous groups in Aracruz and a local company. An Italian priest, Luis Pescarmona, was threatened with expulsion for allegedly "forming a criminal gang and inciting workers to armed struggle" in Paraíba state. He had also received death threats and been the subject of a number of politically motivated police investigations, criminal charges and court cases in previous years.

Throughout the year Amnesty International called for investigations into human rights violations, including harassment of, and attacks on, human rights defenders; excessive use of force by police in the context of land disputes; and torture and ill-treatment by police.

The organization sent an observer to the trials relating to the Vigário Geral and Candelária massacres. Amnesty International representatives also met federal, state and municipal authorities during their visits to the country.

In January the organization published Brazil: Corumbiara and Eldorado de Carajás – rural violence, police brutality and impunity, criticizing the inadequacy of police investigations into massacres carried out by police officers, either while they were on duty or when operating as members of death squads, and the slowness in bringing those responsible to justice.

In April the organization published a report, Brazil: Human rights defenders – protecting human rights for everyone, which highlighted the risks faced by those seeking to protect the human rights of many marginalized sectors of society. The report Brazil: Indigenous leaders marked for death – the killing of Francisco de Assis Araújo, published in June, expressed Amnesty International's concern at the murder and urged the authorities to bring those responsible to justice.