Colonel who admitted to torture during military dictatorship murdered in Rio

Retired Army Colonel Paulo Malhães, 76, was found dead Friday morning (Apr. 25) on his farm in the city of Nova Iguaçu, in Rio de Janeiro. According to police commissioner Fábio Salvadorete, in charge of the investigations, three men broke into the military man’s house, where they tied up his wife and caretaker.

The perpetrators also took with them old guns the victim had in his collection, along with computers. Salvadorete further reported that the burglars stayed in the house for eight hours, and that the colonel was not shot, but rather choked to death. However, the commissioner still awaits the report from forensics, in which Malhães’s cause of death will be ascertained.

The Civil Police declared that the victim’s wife and his caretaker have already given testimony, and that agents are now trying to find footage recorded by security cameras which might help identify the criminals.

Truth Commission urges Federal Police to take part in investigations

Coordinator of the National Truth Commission Pedro Dallari urged Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo to have the Federal Police monitor the investigations into Colonel Malhães’s murder.

A former agent from the Information Center of the Army, Colonel Paulo Malhães was the first military man to admit, in a testimony given on March 25 at the National Truth Commission, to torturing, killing political prisoners, and subsequently hiding their dead bodies during the country’s period of military dictatorship. In his testimony, he said he had no regrets, and recounted how torture sessions took place at the House of Death (Portuguese: Casa da Morte), a torture center built outside the city of Rio de Janeiro, where reportedly 20 people were killed.

On the occasion, he revealed that agents from the Information Center of the Army mutilated the victims’ bodies after they were killed at the House of Death, ripping off their teeth and the tips of their fingers so as to make identification of the bodies impossible, if they were to be found at all. He also related his own version of an operation conducted by the Army to make the mortal remains of then federal deputy Rubens Paiva disappear.

The Truth Commission does not rule out a possible connection between Malhães’s death and his confessions. Agência Brasil tried to contact the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Police to find out whether the institution will follow the case, but there was no answer up to the publication of this article.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira