{"id":33687,"date":"2021-09-30T17:40:49","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T17:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=33687"},"modified":"2021-10-06T13:51:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T13:51:50","slug":"military-justice-must-not-investigate-cases-of-enforced-disappearances-says-un-report-on-brazil","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/military-justice-must-not-investigate-cases-of-enforced-disappearances-says-un-report-on-brazil\/","title":"Military Justice must not investigate cases of enforced disappearances, says UN report on Brazil","content":"

In a report released on Wednesday, September 29, the UN expressed concern over the lack of measures taken by the Brazilian government to prevent and investigate the enforced disappearance of people. The document states, among other things, that investigations into murders and disappearances committed by public security agents and military personnel should be handled by jury trials and civilian justice systems, and not by the military justice system, as is often the case in Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report, which adopts an unusually critical tone against the country, is the result of a series of discussions that took place earlier this month at the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the body that monitors the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, to which Brazil has been a signatory since 2007. The committee heard members of civil society and the Brazilian government.<\/span><\/p>\n

Impartiality of Military Justice<\/b><\/h2>\n

Referring to investigations in military courts, the experts said they are concerned about information that the State Court of Bahia had ruled that the military jurisdiction was competent in the case of the enforced disappearance of Davi Fiuza, in 2014. \u201cThe Committee reaffirms its position that, as a matter of principle, all cases of enforced disappearance must be dealt with only by the competent ordinary civilian authorities,\u201d reads the report. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe UN makes it clear that Brazil is violating basic principles of justice by allowing military personnel to judge their peers who are under investigation for committing willful crimes,\u201d said Carolina Diniz, an advisor for the program to Combat Institutional Violence at Conectas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diniz notes that this is not the first time that an international organization has warned Brazil of the need to establish independent mechanisms of investigation. In February 2017, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the OAS (Organization of American States), in the sentence in which it condemned the country for crimes in the Nova Bras\u00edlia Favela case<\/a>, called for forensics, investigation and judgment of cases involving torture, murder or other crimes committed by agents of the State to be conducted by an agency that is separate from the defendant or defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal case assesses role of Military Justice <\/b><\/h2>\n

In the Supreme Court, the ADI (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) No. 5901 addresses the role of Military Justice courts. In a request for amicus curiae in the case, Conectas and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School said that the lack of impartiality and independence \u201cprevents access to justice and facilitates impunity in cases of human rights violations\u201d. The organizations also said that \u201cStates that do not limit military jurisdiction to crimes of a strictly military nature often tolerate or cover up human rights violations committed by the armed forces\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b><\/p>\n