Brazilian Federal Justice Orders Release of 9 Indians in Jail for a Year

Guarani Kaiowá Indians from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil The nine Guarani-Kaiowá from Passo Piraju who have been in prison in the Brazilian midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul since April 2006 have now been released following a decision of the Court of Appeals (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, STJ).

The 5th Panel of Judges followed the vote of justice Laurita Vaz and unanimously decided that the murder of two civil police officers by the indigenous people should be judged by a federal court. The case was being prosecuted by a state court until now.

With this decision, the preventive custody decree issued by a state court which kept the indigenous people in prison was annulled. The case will now be referred to a federal court in Dourados, state of Mato Grosso do Sul. 

During the trial, lawyer Paulo Machado Guimarães, who is a legal advisor for the Cimi (Indianist Missionary Council), orally presented the arguments in favor of the Habeas Corpus. The lawyers of the entity are the defense attorneys of the nine indigenous people.

Guimarães defended the competency of federal courts to judge cases involving land disputes and ethnic considerations. His position was supported by an opinion issued by deputy attorney general Maria Eliane Menezes de Farias, who believes that the case should be judged by a federal court and indicated that the preventive custody lacks appropriate grounds.

In her vote, justice Laurita Vaz accepted the arguments of the defense attorneys. The first of them is that the murders in question took place as the indigenous people were trying to defend their land, as they declared themselves.

"The group action resulted from an effort to protect a land area. The scenario shows that the action is closely related to a dispute for the possession of a land area between indigenous people and its owners," Vaz said.

She stressed that the police officers failed to identify themselves as such and, because of the way they were acting, they were mixed up with farmers. "There is an ongoing conflict between indigenous people and farmers in the region arising from a land dispute," the justice said.

"Only a federal court is competent to judge this case. I recognize the absolute incompetence of the state court to judge this case and therefore I am annulling the preventive custody order issued by it, without prejudice to any possible decision of a federal judge in relation to the arrest of the indigenous people," justice Laurita Vaz said as she voted on the Habeas Corpus issued in connection with proceedings 65,898/MS in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 27, in Brasí­lia.

Cimi

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Air Force Blames US Pilots and Controllers for Amazon’s Air Tragedy

One year after the collision between a Boeing 737 and a Legacy executive jet, ...

Brazil Accuses US of Subsidizing 90% of Its Cotton and Gets Ready for Retaliation

Within the next 30 days Brazil is expected to request retaliatory rights at the ...

Brazil: Zero Hunger Gives Hope a Chance

Zero Hunger, Brazil’s national program against hunger is not contaminated by the easy handouts ...

Group Demands Transparency from Brazil When Granting Radio and TV Licenses

A coalition of civil society organizations and social movements, including London-based human right organization ...

Brazil’s Petrobras Lending Up to US$ 574 Million to Small Suppliers

Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil and gas multinational is going to offer credit to small- ...

With Rousseff as Brazil’s President the Castros and Chavez Will Have a Lot to Celebrate

In a scene from my first book, Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics and the Challenge ...

Chinese Will Help Brazil Build Southeast-Northeast Gas Pipeline

Petrobras and the Chinese State petroleum company, SINOPEC, signed a contract Monday, April 17, ...

Short story – fall guy

malu is something else, fine people are another story. as the old of issás ...

Brazilian UN Envoy Killed in Iraq Gets a Bronze Bust in Geneva

Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian ambassador to the UN who was killed four ...