Groups in Brazil Aim to Call Military Torturers to Account
Frustrated by their own government’s timidity but encouraged by recent court rulings in Argentina and Chile, Brazilian human rights groups are seeking to overturn an amnesty for human rights abuses that went into effect in 1979, when a right-wing military dictatorship ruled this nation.
A family of five jailed earlier in the 1970s has filed a civil action against Col. Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who was then the commander of Center for Operations for Internal Defense here. A judge has agreed to hear the complaint, the first time that a Brazilian military officer has been formally called to account for the torture of political prisoners during the dictatorship.
“This has a lot to do with historical context, and not just in Brazil,” said Cecilia Coimbra, a leader of the human rights group Torture Never Again. “Other countries have advanced a lot further, both in terms of punishing those responsible for abuses and opening their archives. And since our government still insists on sitting on the wall, we have to take the offensive ourselves.”
Read entire article at NYT
A family of five jailed earlier in the 1970s has filed a civil action against Col. Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who was then the commander of Center for Operations for Internal Defense here. A judge has agreed to hear the complaint, the first time that a Brazilian military officer has been formally called to account for the torture of political prisoners during the dictatorship.
“This has a lot to do with historical context, and not just in Brazil,” said Cecilia Coimbra, a leader of the human rights group Torture Never Again. “Other countries have advanced a lot further, both in terms of punishing those responsible for abuses and opening their archives. And since our government still insists on sitting on the wall, we have to take the offensive ourselves.”