The minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) scheduled the trial for February 13 on an action that discusses whether the concealment of a corpse was committed during the protection of the Amnesty Law. The analysis will be in a virtual plenary session and should last until February 24th.
At the center of the discussion is the possible understanding that, since it remains unresolved, the practice of such . If the ministers form a majority in this sense, cases involving the concealment of a corpse will no longer be covered by the amnesty granted for acts committed by the dictatorship.
The appeal under discussion is from the Federal Public Ministry against a ruling by the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region) that allowed military personnel accused of hiding bodies during the military to be amnestied. The Supreme Court formed a majority in February last year to give general repercussion to the appeal that deals with the issue, which means that the decision will apply to all similar cases.
The application of the Amnesty Law, as stated by Dino at the time of the decision on the general repercussion, extinguishes the punishability of all acts carried out until its entry into force in 1979, but not future acts.
“Amnesty can only cover past acts; there is no possibility of amnestying a future act, which would mean a ‘crime voucher’, which is obviously prohibited by the Constitution. The Amnesty Law had its validity endorsed by the STF and this decision applies it to its object: crimes committed prior to its coming into force”, stated Dino.
In the decision, Dino also cited the case of the impeached deputy, portrayed in the film “”, whose body was never found.
“The story of the disappearance of Rubens Paiva, whose body was never found and buried, highlights the indescribable pain of thousands of fathers, mothers, brothers, children, nephews, grandchildren, who never had their rights regarding their missing family members taken care of. They were never able to watch over and bury them, despite obstinate searches like that of Zuzu Angel in search of her son”, he said.
The discussion of the specific case began in 2015. The MPF filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Pará against the lieutenant colonels of the Lício Army Augusto Ribeiro Maciel and Sebastião Curió Rodrigues de Moura for qualified homicide and concealment of a corpse committed during the Araguaia guerrilla.
In 1973 and 1974, Curió had direct participation in the persecution, execution and torture of PC do B guerrillas who operated between the north of Tocantins and the southeast of Pará.
He was then sent to Serra Pelada to work during the gold rush. He became popular among miners, to the point of being elected federal deputy and mayor of Curionópolis, a city named in his honor, and leading a revolt against the government.
He died in 2022, aged 87. Two years earlier, it was . At the time, Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency) published a text in which it classified as “heroes of Brazil” the public agents who acted against the Araguaia Guerrilla in the 1970s.
