Faria de Sá : Torture crime is imprescriptible and can be punished at any time by the State

The reserve lieutenant José Vargas Jiménez, the military who confessed to have been a torturer during dictatorship time, should answer to a lawsuit. The Special Committee on the Amnesty Law forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic a representation against the lieutenant, who commanded the Army’s repression to the Araguaia guerilla in Pará.

Gimenez made a deposition at the committee on the last 3rd, when he confirmed the content of an interview given to the magazine Isto É, in which he had confessed to have tortured political prisoners and to have kept secret documents from the Army.

The Committee’s rapporteur, Deputy Arnaldo Faria de Sá (PTB-SP), argues that torture crime is imprescriptible, that is, it can be punished any time by the State. “He [Jiménez] understood that the crimes he had practiced had already prescribed. But we reminded him that torture is an imprescriptible crime, and, therefore, are sending a copy of the audio of all of his declarations to the Attorney’s Office, so that it can take the applicable and necessary measures against that mere torturer”, said Faria de Sá.

In an e-mail to the Committee, on Wednesday, the lieutenant Jiménez informed to have sent to the deputies, through the mail, the copy of the secret documents of the Army he says he keeps.

Report - José Carlos Oliveira / Rádio Câmara
Editing - Simone Ravazzolli
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda