The Federal Supreme Court postponed the judgment on the time frame in indigenous lands. The appeal was scheduled to be analyzed on the 23rd of this month, but was withdrawn from the agenda by the president of the STF, Minister Luiz Fux. There is no new date set for the trial.
The thesis defended by ruralists determines that the demarcation of an indigenous land can only happen if it is proven that the indigenous people were on the required space before October 5, 1988, the date of the promulgation of the current Constitution.
The STF began to judge on August 26th whether the demarcation of indigenous lands must follow the criterion of the time frame, by which indigenous people can only claim the demarcation of lands already occupied by them before the date of promulgation of the 1988 Constitution. In September, Minister Alexandre de Moraes asked for a view (more time to analyze the process).
The judgment score is tied at 1 to 1. Minister Nunes Marques voted in favor of the thesis. In the vote, Nunes Marques considered that the interests of indigenous people do not override the interests of national defense. The rapporteur of the case, Minister Edson Fachin, spoke out against the time frame. For Fachin, article 231 of the Constitution recognizes the right of permanence of these peoples regardless of the date of occupation.
In the appeal, the Santa Catarina State Environment Foundation (Fatma) — currently the Santa Catarina Environment Institute (IMA) — defends the repossession of the area occupied in 2009 by about 100 indigenous people within the “Biological Reserve of the Sassafras”, in Santa Catarina.
The STF attributed general repercussion to the appeal. This means that the decision taken may constitute a mandatory precedent in all processes involving the right of indigenous peoples to their ancestral territories.
Source: CNN Brasil
