It is the first time that persons accused of murdering an indigenous person in Mato Grosso do Sul will be brought to trial.

 

Original posting: https://cimi.org.br/?system=news&action=read&id=5308&eid=274

 

"The decision will not return my father to us, but it will return our dignity as human beings. We will really experience  citizenship", said Valdelice Veron, daughter of Marcos
 
The indigenous Guarani Kaiowá people of Mato Grosso do Sul are mobilizing to monitor the trial of the people accused for the murder of Cacique (Chief) Marcos Veron, which will begin next Monday, February 21, in Sao Paulo. The crime occurred on January 13, 2003 at Fazenda Brasília do Sul, in the municipality of Juti, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), in the area revindicated as Tekoha Takwara by Verón and his community. The jury trial, which has already been postponed twice, was transferred from MS to São Paulo at the request of the Ministério Público Federal (MPF) in order to ensure the impartiality of jurors and prevent social and economic influence on the decisions by those involved in the crime. 

In January of 2003, for two consecutive days, the community led by Veron was attacked and beaten by approximately 30-40 armed men. On the 12^th of that month, a vehicle with two indigenous women, a boy of 14 years, and three children 6, 7 and 11 years was chased for 8 km under gunfire. On the morning of the 13^th the assailants attacked the camp. Seven indigenous community members were kidnapped, chained in the back of a van and taken to a remote location of the fazenda and were subjected to torture. During the assault, one of Verón’s sons, Ladio, was nearly burned alive. His daughter, Geisabel, seven months pregnant, was dragged by the hair and beaten. At the time of the crime, Veron who was 73, was attacked with punches, kicks and rifle butts blows to the head. He died from cranial trauma.
 
Three security guards are respondents in the crime: Estevão Romero, Carlos Roberto dos Santos and Jorge Cristaldo Insabralde. They are accused of double homicide aggravated by reason of torpid/indecent and cruel means, torture, six counts of aggravated attempted homicide, six counts of kidnapping, procedural fraud and conspiracy. Another 24 people were also denounced for involvement in the crime.
 
The trial, which will take place at the Fórum Jarbas Nobre, in the Sao Paulo capital, is considered historic, and for the indigenous peoples of MS, introduces precedents for similar cases bringing the same scope of prosecution. It is the first time that persons accused of murdering an indigenous person in Mato Grosso do Sul will be brought to trial. Public prosecutors of the MPF participating in the trial are Marco Antônio Delfino de Almeida, of Dourados, Rodrigo de Grandis and Marta Pinheiro de Oliveira Sena, of São Paulo, and the regional prosecutor, Luiz Carlos dos Santos Gonçalves.
 
For Valdelice Veron, daughter of Cacique Veron, the trial represents a victory. "It will be a landmark for the people. The decision will not return my father to us, but it will return our dignity as human beings. We will actually experience citizenship, respected by the Brazilian State and Justice system", she declared. She also recalled other cases of murder of indigenous people who were never brought to trial, among them that of the indigenous leader Marçal de Souza (Tupã’i), assassinated in November 1983.
 
Saulo Feitosa, adjunct-secretary of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) agrees with Valdelice and adds: "The trial is an historical response to these assassinations and other crimes that have been committed in MS. It will be a landmark if it brings a decision favorable to the indigenous peoples, who have long monitored the kidnappings, torture, arrests/imprisonment and murder of their relatives".
 
The assassination of Marçal, a great leader of the indigenous movement and one of the precursors of the struggles of the Guarani for recovery and recognition of their traditional lands, has never been forgotten, at least by his people and other indigenous peoples in Brazil. Those accused of the crime were acquitted in 1993 and the procedure prescribed. Because of this, the trial of those accused in the death of Veron represents a hope for justice and less impunity in relation to crimes committed against the indigenous peoples of the country.
 
Valdelice movingly emphasizes that her own father fought so that the crime against Marçal not remain treated with impunity. "My father fought for the judgment of this case, but they had been moving forward to shut it down. Now, we are not going to let that happen. We are going to raise our voice and fight for justice, because in spite of everything we still believe in the Justice system", she said.
 
Saulo Feitosa highlights that the murder of Marcos Verón was the first recorded among the Guarani-Kaiowá during the first term of Lula’s presidency, a victory that came from the will of the people and brought hopes of a new life and greater equalityto Brazil. "At a time in which the country was inaugurating a new phase, with a labor leader assuming the presidency, armed assaults continued and Indigenous peoples continued to be persecuted, criminalized and murdered. The situation only worsened during the two terms", he added.
 
Disrespect
 
The jury trial was suspended in May of last year, after the MPF abandoned the plenum in protest against the decision of Judge Paula Mantovani Avelino of the 1^st Federal Court in Sao Paulo, which would appoint an interpreter only to indigenous persons who do not speak Portuguese. For the MPF, the fact of an indigenous person understanding what is asked does not mean complete mastery of the language and the symbolic universe that it represents. Moreover, the [judicial] order for indigenous peoples to speak only Portuguese, without the assistance of an interpreter, violates international conventions and the 1988 Federal Constitution of Brazil.
 
The court decision not to hear the indigenous people in their mother tongue injures Article 231 and 210 of the Federal Constitution, as well as several international conventions, such as Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention 169 of International LabourOrganisation (ILO), among others.
 
Article 27, Section II, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that “ In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language."
 
Article 12 of ILO Convention 169 is expressed in this way: "The peoples concerned shall be safeguarded against the abuse of their rights and shall be able to take legal proceedings, either individually or through their representative bodies, for the effective protection of these rights. Measures shall be taken to ensure that members of these peoples can understand and be understood in legal proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other effective means."
 
Change of venue for the jury trial
 
Among those grounds raised by the MPF to request transfer of the jury trial from Dourados (MS) to the capital of São Paulo is the economic power and social influence of the title holder of the fazenda, Honorio Jacinto da Silva Filho. He had negotiated with two indigenous [witnesses] to change their depositions. They signed a document in 2004 changing the version given of the crime, the day after the killing, exonerating the security guards contracted by the fazenda owner, who would have even tried to buy the testimony of the son of the murdered chief, by offering him material goods in exchange for his signature on a term of testimony that had already been written.
 
For Saulo Feitosa, the change in venue has already brought a real possibility of there being a fair trial. "The state of Mato Grosso do Sul presents with the highest indices of violence and prejudice against indigenous peoples. Several leaders have already been attacked, tortured and assassinated in the region. For these reasons alone, it would not be possible to have an impartial judgment".
 
The MPF cited the manifestations of a state magistrate against the indigenous peoples and against the federal prosecutor in the case. Demonstrations in the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso do Sul, condemning the indigenous camps and equivocations on the deaths of the leaders, as well as opinions unfavorable to indigenous peoples in several newspapers throughout the state were also joined to the process, to show that a federal jury convened in any subsection of the Judiciary of the state would prove biased against the Indians.
 
This was the third case of interstatechange of venue in Brazil. The first two occurred in the trial of former federal Rep. Hildebrando Pascoal. Two of his federal juries were transferred from RioBranco in the state of Acre to the Federal District of Brasilia.
 
Docket Reference in the Federal Court of São Paulo – No 2003.60.02.000374-2.

 

Further Reading:

“Indigenous Peoples: The Long March for Recognition of Stolen Humanity”,

Human Rights in Brazil 2009  Network for Social Justice and Human Rights;

Rosane F. Lacerda; p. 75-84;