Decision about Carandiru diverges from the logic of impunity and restates that torture isn’t under a statute of limitations
São Paulo justice recognizes that the lawsuit on torture at the Carandiru penitentiary is not under a statute of limitations, opening a path for reparation, memory, and case law on human rights
Antigo Complexo do Carandiru, onde aos menos 111 presos foram assassinados em 1992 no pavilhão nove em decorrência de ação policial. Foto: Mauricio Lima/ AFP
Over three decades ago, the Carandiru Massacre remains as one of the largest marks of State violence in Brazil, as well as a symbol of omissions and lack of accountability. However, this story may take a new direction. The decision by the São Paulo courts to acknowledge that the claim for compensation filed by a survivor of the massacre is not time-barred represents fundamental progress in the fight for memory, truth, justice, and reparation.
The decision refers to the case of social educator Maurício Monteiro, who reports that he was tortured by military policemen on that dreadful October 2nd, 1992. According to his testimony, he was obligated to clean the blood of victims, forced to witness executions, among other types of abuse.
By rejecting the claim of a five-year statute of limitations in lawsuits against the State presented by the São Paulo State Prosecution Office (PGE-SP), judge Ana Carolina Gusmão de Souza Costa stated that violations of fundamental rights perpetrated by public authorities are not subject to ordinary statutes of limitations.
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The case is now entering the evidentiary stage, where the extent of damages suffered by Maurício will be assessed and the compensation for pain and suffering will be defined, estimated at around BRL 200,000 by the defense. The evidentiary hearing was scheduled for June.
The importance of the decision, however, goes way beyond this individual case. It will help consolidate a crucial understanding for transition justice and the protection of human rights in Brazil: torture, institutional violence, and abuse perpetrated under custody do not disappear over time. The consequences of these acts live on in the victims, their families, and society, and there must still be a response at the state level.
By dismissing the statute of limitations, Justice creates a path for a case law that is more consistent with other cases of State-perpetrated torture and violence, particularly when the victims were under public custody and had their physical and psychological integrity violated by state operatives.
A decision that rekindles the debate on accountability
This debate is even more urgent when one notes the long history of impunity surrounding the Carandiru penitentiary. Colonel Ubiratan Guimarães, the commander of the operation, was convicted in 2001 to 632 years of incarceration, but was absolved in 2006 by the São Paulo Court of Justice under the justification of “strict compliance with legal duty” – the colonel passed away that same year.
Between 2013 and 2014, 74 military policemen were convicted to do between 48 and 632 years of jail time. Later, in 2022, then-president Jair Bolsonaro granted a pardon to the convicts – a decision considered constitutional in 2024, but still contested by the Prosecution Office due to its violating of international human rights treaties.
In 2016, another survivor, Emílio Marques Silva Filho, had a compensation claim dismissed by São Paulo justice due to the alleged statute of limitations. Besides, many families have not yet obtained effective reparations. Surveys by researchers from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) show that only a portion of the lawsuits filed by families led to payments, and, even in cases with compensation, the amounts came late and were insufficient given the scope of the tragedy.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also acknowledged Brazil’s international liability for the executions and the injuries that took place during the massacre, in addition to the violation of judicial guarantees due to the absence of effective investigation and punishment. The IACHR recommended that the Brazilian government should offer reparations to victims, adopt social reinsertion policies, and strengthen memory initiatives. To this day, however, there has not been an effective reparation policy.
The Carandiru Massacre, which left at least 111 dead, is still the largest symbol of prison violence in Brazil. The new decision does not erase that history, but can help write a less cruel conclusion: that of a country that finally acknowledges that torture isn’t under a statute of limitations, and that reparation is as necessary as convicting.
