Relatives of disappeared people during military dictatorship claimed for the location of the victims during Human Rights Conference

On Tuesday (16), during the 11th National Conference of Human Rights, the former political prisoner and current representative of the group Tortura Nunca Mais, Maria Amélia Teles, claimed for the revoking of the Law 11.111/05, which rules about the confidentiality of information considered as dangerous for national safety.

"The Brazilian Constitution provides for the right to access to information from government bodies about any citizen, and that law provides for the eternal secrecy of data regarding political prisoners of the Military Regime”, she argued. Amélia Teles participated on the Axis 7 of the Conference – Right to memory and to truth.

One of the main claims by the relatives of disappeared people during dictatorship is the location of the victims. They also fight for explanations about prisons and deaths, for the liability of torturers, and for financial reparation.

Justice
Amélia Teles reminded that the group has also already ultimately conquered in Court the right to access to official information about political prisoners, but the government refuses to comply with the determination. “We are going through an odd situation, in which the State refuses to comply with a decision from the Judiciary Power”, she highlighted.

The lawsuit is also processed at the Organization of American States (OAS), which should communicate its decision in April 2009. The militant believes that Brazil should be condemned for refusing to comply with a court decision.

According to the president of the Committee on Amnesty of the Justice Ministry, Paulo Abrão, this refusal of the State to disclose the files of dictatorship is a reflex of the “fear culture”, a heritage of the very dictatorial period. “Brazil still cannot recognize its mistakes from the past, and therefore, perpetuates these mistakes”, he affirms.

Heritage
For Paulo Abrão, that attitude represents only one aspect of the heritage of the military regime. In his conception, the violations of human rights that animate the social movements of the present come from that historical period. “We have the same background, which is the fight for political rights, liberty of organization, civil rights, right to think, to physical integrity”, he highlighted.

Maria Amélia Teles also highlighted, as an example, that the Military Police was created by dictatorship. According to her, since the regime reinforced the repression to political and social movements, the existing polices until that moment were not able to respond to that military strategy of “eliminating opposition groups”.

He explained that therefore it was necessary to create a structure, ruled by the philosophy of national safety. “All police violence which comes as a result of the dictatorial regime is a tragic sequel of that militarist strategy”, he affirms.

Paulo Abrão also added that many of the disciplinary rules of Military Police remain the same as those from the time of their creation, and have not even been reformulated. “Perhaps that is the origin of that authoritarian culture in the approach of the citizens, that perspective of the police that it is against society, to protect some against the others, and not besides society and at their service”, he argues.

Report - Maria Neves
Editing - Newton Araújo Jr.
Translation – Positive Idiomas Ltda