This Monday (16) marks 10 years since the National Truth Commission (CNV) was created. The responsible group was sworn in on May 16, 2012 to investigate human rights violations committed from 1946 to 1988, a period that includes the military dictatorship (1964 to 1985).
The work in the commission resulted in a report on 191 deaths and 243 disappeared in Brazil and abroad during the military government, in addition to evidence of the “systematic practice of illegal and arbitrary detention and torture, as well as the commission of executions, forced disappearances and concealment of corpses by agents of the Brazilian State”.
The commission heard testimonies and reports that helped to reconstruct this period of Brazilian history, including that of Maria Amélia Teles. A member of the Commission for Relatives of Political Dead and Disappeared, Amelia also served as an advisor to the State Truth Commission in São Paulo. She was arrested in 1972, taken by agents of the Information Operations Detachment – Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-CODI) and also passed through other arrests.
“The National Truth Commission was born out of an old demand, including from family members. The family, so to speak, is one of the main actors that will demand ‘truth’ and ‘justice’ in all governments. These are two words that have moved family members over more than 50 years, so I am part of this movement.”
Even with difficulty remembering the prison period, Maria Amélia reinforced the importance of telling her story: “We have to tell this story despite the fact that every time I tell a suffering. I have no satisfaction in saying this, it is very sad, but I think that the Brazilian people, that Brazilian society must be aware of this”.
Pedro Dallari, coordinator of the National Truth Commission and professor of international law at the University of São Paulo (USP), explains that the group, despite being created to investigate crimes, did not receive jurisdictional powers – that is, it could not indict or make someone a defendant.
“The law also required an indication of authorship – and we then indicated 387 people who were proven to be associated with cases of death and political disappearances. CNV do Brasil is one of the forty that have already operated worldwide,” he explains.
Dallari took over the coordination in October 2013 and was responsible for delivering the final report in 2014.
As well as the stipulation of what should be done during the Commission, the law also established its duration. Therefore, on December 10, 2014, the group was closed and the final report with its performance was delivered.
According to Dallari, there were more than 1,116 testimonies, in addition to 80 public sessions held in 14 Brazilian states and the Federal District.
According to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the agency has already filed more than 50 criminal cases in recent years to investigate and punish the military involved in crimes during the regime.
Source: CNN Brasil
