Military charged with murdering congressman during dictatorship
Rubens Paiva
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) has filed charges against five retired military officers on Monday (May 19) for murdering and concealing the body of former Congressman Rubens Paiva. The crime took place within Army premises in Tijuca, North Rio de Janeiro city, in January 1971, in the context of Brazil's military dictatorship.
A former commander of the Information Operations Department, General José Antônio Nogueira Belham, and a former member of the Army's Information Center, Colonel Rubens Paim Sampaio, were charged with murder with three aggravating circumstances, concealment of corpse, and armed criminal conspiracy. Retired Colonel Raymundo Ronaldo Campos and military officers Jurandyr Ochsendorf e Souza and Jacy Ochsendorf e Souza were accused of concealment of corpse, procedural fraud, and armed criminal conspiracy.
Federal Prosecutor Sérgio Suiama explained that the actions leading up to Rubens Paiva's arrest and death are state crimes committed systematically and broadly against the population and thus can be classified as crimes against humanity. As such, he went on to argue, these violations do not become time-barred, and the perpetrators are not eligible to benefit from the Amnesty Act of 1979.
Speaking in a press conference at MPF, Rubens Paiva's daugher, Vera Paiva, expressed gratitude at the outcome. “I appreciate the honor of setting a milestone in the way Brazil has dealt with state violence,” she said, mentioning the case of bricklayer Amarildo Souza as an example of persistent violence against civilians.
The MPF investigations have taken about three years of studying extensive files and hearing testimonies of 27 people.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Military charged with murdering congressman during dictatorship
