Impunity Brazil

WHEREASthe only person convicted for the murder of radio reporter Ronaldo Santana de Araújo, which happened on October 9, 1997 in Eunápolis, Bahia, is on the run, and the remaining persons accused, including former mayor Paulo Ernesto Ribeiro da Silva, known as Paulo Dapé, who had been mentioned as the mastermind of the crime, have appealed and have not been tried; WHEREAS the crime against Reinaldo Coutinho da Silva, killed on August 29, 1995, in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, continues unpunished, although the Homicide Department is proceding in its investigations; WHEREAS the appeal of João Arcanjo Ribeiro continues to be analyzed by Laurita Vaz of the Superior Court of Justice; Ribeiro is accused of instigating the crime against businessman Domingos Sávio Brandão de Lima, owner of the newspaper Folha do Estado and the radio station Cidade de Cuiabá FM, killed on September 30, 2002; Ribeiro was able to bypass the decision made by the court, which prevented him from bringing new appeals to delay the progress of the case; WHEREAS the trial that had been scheduled for December, 2011was delayed of Nilson Osterne Maia and Otávio Viana de Lima, who had been accused of the murder of radio reporter Nicanor Linhares Batista, on June 30,2003 in Limoeiro do Norte, Ceará; the case continues to be closed to public scrutiny and the indictment of appeals judge José Maria Lucerna as one of the instigators of the crime is to be decided on in a special forum; investigations continue to determine the possible participation of former mayor Maria Arivan de Holanda, wife of the appeals judge; WHEREAS the lack of a permanent judge in Limoeiro do Norte has impacted the docket of jury trials, since the acting judge presides over at least three courts at the same time; WHEREAS of the nine people accused of the murder of radio reporter Samuel Román, killed in Coronel Sapucaia, Mato Grosso do Sul, on April 20, 2004, three have been indicted (because the others have not been located); but only one person has been tried and is in prison, since former mayor Eurico Mariano and Alfredo Rui Dias Arevalos, who had also been convicted for the crime, are on the run; WHEREAS the case of the murder of radio reporter Jorge Lourenço dos Santos continues in the Court of Justice of Alagoas; Santos was killed on July 11, 2004, in Santana do Ipanema, Alagoas; the accused include the former mayor of the city; WHEREAS Valnei Bertoni and Carlos Alberto da Costa, accused of the murder of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho, on May 5, 2007 in Porto Ferreira, São Paulo, are still awaiting trial, which was moved to the capital and stayed on least one occasion; WHEREAS the two people accused of the murder of radio reporter Francisco Gomes de Medeiros, F. Gomes, on October 18, 2010 in the city of Caico, Rio Grande do Norte, are in prison, ready to be tried, but new facts have led to a continuation of the investigation with preventive detention of another suspect, and the police investigator should conclude the second part of her inquiry in the next few days; WHEREAS no suspect has yet been arrested for the murder of Wanderley dos Reis on October 16, 2010 in Ibitinga, São Paulo, and as more time passes by, greater becomes the difficulty of solving the crime, which may be related to the journalistic work of Reis at Popular News; WHEREAS the investigations of the murder of Edinaldo Filgueira, editor of the newspaper O Serrano, killed on June 15, 2011 in Serra do Mel, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, led to the preventive imprisonment of the mayor of the city; eight persons are in prison and the case is moving forward; WHEREAS the murder of radio reporter Valderlei Canuto Leandro on September 1, 2011 in Tabatinga, Amazonas, has not been clarified, and the case has been sent to the Court of Justice, since one of the suspects has protected status; WHEREAS in February 2012 two more people were arrested, accused of participating in the murder of Luciano Leitão Pedrosa on April 9, 2011 in Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco; the motive for the crime may have been revelations of drug trafficking made on his radio and television program; WHEREAS investigations are continuing on the murder of radio reporter Laécio de Souza on January 3, 2012 in Simões Filho, Bahia, the crime, according to police investigations, is probably related to the welfare policy activities of the reporter, who intended to run for councilman in an area dominated by drug trafficking; WHEREAS this year journalist Mário Randolfo Marques Lopes, editor of Vassouras na Net, and his girlfriend, Maria Aparecida Guimarães were murdered on February 9, 2012 in Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro; and journalist Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues, known as Paulo Rocaro, on February 12, 2012 in Ponta Porã in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul; the crimes may be related to their professional activities; WHEREAS the murders of reporters Luiz Otávio Monteiro in Manaus, Amazonas, on December 29, 1988; of Edgar Lopes de Faria, on October 29, 1997 in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul; of José Carlos Mesquita on March 10, 1988 in Ouro Preto do Oeste, Rondônia; and of Mário Coelho de Almeida Filho, on August 16, 2001, in Magé, Rio de Janeiro continue to be unpunished; as well as the cases of journalist Nivanildo Barbosa Lima, found dead at the Paulo Afonso dam on July 22, 1995; and of Ivan Rocha, who disappeared on April 22, 1991 in Teixeira de Freitas, in Bahia; WHEREAS a friendly agreement was signed in 2009 between the Brazilian government and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights that contemplates the reopening of the case of the murder of journalist Manoel Leal de Oliveira in January 1998 in Itabuna, Bahia, to identify and punish the masterminds of the crime, something that has not yet occurred; Mozart Brasil, the only person convicted of the crime, made new revelations about the crime, and they were sent by the IAPA to the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic in February 2012, since a new prosecutor designated for the district of Itabuna has still not been found; WHEREAS after the murders of three Brazilian journalists in January and February 2012, Minister Maria do Rosário of the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic stated that the National Congress should approve the bills that would transfer to federal jurisdiction the investigation and trial of crimes practiced by militias or extermination groups; that federalization of the investigation of these crimes is the object of a proposal for constitutional amendment (PEC) No. 107/11 of bill No. 370/07 that is now going through the National Congress; WHEREAS in April 2011 Federal Deputy Protógenes Pinheiro de Queiroz submitted bill no. 1078 that would change Law No. 10.466 of May 8, 2002 to specify the participation of the Federal Police in the investigation of crimes wherever there has been an omission or inefficiency on the part of competent authority in crimes against journalists; the deputy wants to hold hearings with journalism organizations to discuss the bill; WHEREAS Brazil, with its vote at the UNESCO meeting, delayed for at lease one year a plan that was designed to improve security for journalists in performing their work, WHEREAS Principal 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly;” THE MID-YEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES To solicit that information be investigated that suggests that the former mayor of Coronel Sapucaia (Mato Grosso do Sul), Eurico Mariano, and Alfredo Rui Dias Arevalos, convicted for the murder of radio reporter Samuel Román may be on the run in Paraguay; To request assurance that Brazil and Paraguay will act together in combating impunity, working to arrest escaped criminals who normally find refuge in the neighboring country; To request that denunciations made in December 2011 by Mozart Brasil, convicted for the murder of Manoel Leal de Oliveira, be investigated and that the case be taken up again to identify the instigators of the crime, in accordance with an agreement signed with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights; To request that trials be held of those accused of the murder of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho, whose crime is now five years old; To request that there be greater rigor and control of prisoners who receive the benefit of progression of closed regimen to a semi-open regimen of incarceration; To guarantee effective implementation of the Infoseg Network, the integrated system of security information created to make available data from police investigations, criminal cases, arrest orders, firearms, and vehicles among all states and federal agencies in order to arrest escapees and diminish impunity; To request that confidentiality and protection of witnesses be guaranteed; To assure good working conditions for investigators, police chiefs, prosecutors, and judges, especially in the interior of the country, where the accumulation of positions in more than one city negatively impacts investigations and holding of trials; To demand that all investigations and cases identify and lead to punishment of the instigators of crimes and not just the executors; To request that bills and proposals for federalization of crimes against the press be considered for discussion, approval, and immediate implementation of a law in this regard, and that the Brazilian government reconsider its position and accept discussion of the UN plan that contemplates reducing murders of journalists in the world and combatting impunity. To express to the Minister of Foreign Relations its concern over the position adopted by Brazil in the UNESCO meeting last March in Paris, when it voted against the resolution that would provide greater security to press personnel around the world.