Brazilian "Justice" in Case of Indian Burned Alive
10/22/97
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Headline: Brazilian "Justice" in Case of Indian Burned Alive
Source: Green Left Weekly #294
Date: 10/22/97
Author: Barry Healy
A Brazilian judge has caused outrage with an extraordinary
ruling in the case of the killing of an Indian, Galdino Jesus
dos Santos. On September 29 Judge Sandra de Santis Mello ruled
that the charge against the accused should be assault and
battery followed by death, not murder.
Jesus dos Santos, a Pataxo Ha-ha-hae Indian, was burned alive as
he lay sleeping at a bus stop in Brasilia on the night of April
20. Murderous attacks of this sort have been taking place in
Brazil for some years, but this is the first time that charges
have been laid.
On October 7 the judge reiterated her decision on the charges
and again ruled that the case not go to a jury trial.
In a statement Cimi, the Indianist Missionary Council, said that
the ruling corroborates the common opinion that judges are
biased and manipulated by the powerful groups and social classes
to which they belong. ``It also evokes the old feeling that
impunity will once again prevail'', Cimi commented.
Cimi says that all of the accused are members of the ``high
middle class'' and one is the son of a judge. Cimi claims that
they are being favoured by ``a clear social and economic
protectionism''.
The ongoing struggles of Brazilian Indians were illustrated on
September 7 when Indian representatives met with government
officials to try to iron out land rights problems. Leaders of
the Apoinme and Capoib Indian organisations met the minister for
justice and the of the government Indian affairs agency, Funai.
The minister walked out of the meeting and left it to Sullivan
Silvestre, the president of Funai, to explain that the agency's
budget has been cut by 28% and that indigenous areas are not
being ``demarcated'' because of a lack of political will.
Among the issues to be resolved is the case of the Kaxixo people
who are fighting to invalidate an old anthropological report
according to which they don't exist.
Environmentalists have scored at least one recent victory in
Brazilian courts. The first attempt to completely privatise the
exploitation of a forest has been held up by a ruling that the
necessary environmental impact statement has not been completed.
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