Former DOPS delegate is convicted of crimes during military dictatorship

2023-06-13 07:00:24

Cláudio Antônio Guerra headed the Espírito Santo unit and will respond in a semi-open regime for the crime of hiding a corpse

Reproduction/ Commission for the Dead and Disappeared of the DictatorshipFormer delegate confessed to 12 deaths in a book; victims are among people reported missing

The Federal Justice of Campos dos Goytacazes, in the Rio de Janeirosentenced last Thursday, 8, Cláudio Antônio Guerra, former delegate of the Department of Political and Social Order (dops) of Espírito Santo, to seven years in prison, in a semi-open regime, for the crime of concealing a corpse. Last week’s decision was released this Monday, 12, by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF). The criminal action filed by the MPF is related to the disappearance of 12 political activists during the authoritarian regime. The victims are: Ana Rosa Kucinski Silva, Armando Teixeira Frutuoso, David Capistrano da Costa, Eduardo Collier Filho, Fernando Augusto Santa Cruz Oliveira, João Batista Rita, João Massena Melo, Joaquim Pires Cerveira, José Roman, Luís Inácio Maranhão Filho, Thomaz Antônio da Silva Meirelles Neto and Wilson Silva. In the sentence, the Federal Court recognized “the non-application of the statute of limitations for the crimes under investigation, here considered as crimes against humanity (or against humanity), in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic, international human rights standards and settled case law within the scope of the global and inter-American systems for the protection of human rights”.

The crimes committed by Guerra were investigated in criminal proceedings, based on his own reports in the book “Memoirs of a Dirty War”. He confessed to having collected the bodies of 12 people and taken them to be incinerated between 1973 and 1975. The bodies were removed from places such as the “Casa da Morte” in Petrópolis (RJ) and the DOI-Codi in Rio de Janeiro, being incinerated later at Usina Cambahyba, in Campos dos Goytacazes. Confirmation of the bodies taken by Guerra was made in several testimonies, including one provided at the MPF in Espírito Santo. These 12 people mentioned by Guerra are part of a list of 136 people considered missing in the final report of the National Truth Commission (CNV). The conviction is subject to appeal. The Federal Court granted Cláudio Guerra the right to appeal in freedom.

*With information from Agência Brasil