This Monday (10th), USP’s Faculty of Law will promote a debate on the verdict that convicted the Brazilian state, which was still under military dictatorship (1964-1985), of the murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog.
The debate, held in the university’s main hall in central São Paulo, was part of a calendar of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Herzog’s death, which ended in October this year. The journalist, who was the director of TV Cultura, was killed on October 25, 1975 at the headquarters of the army DOI-Codi in the capital of São Paulo.
As is known, Vlad visited the headquarters of the repressive agency that day to talk about his activities in the PCB (Communist Party of Brazil), which resists the armed struggle against the dictatorship. He died several hours later after being tortured. The regime announced that he had committed suicide.
This version was quickly challenged, mobilizing protests, student strikes, and public inquiries at the time, including an interfaith act at the Cathedral of Sé that openly challenged the dictatorship.
Vlad’s widow and publicist, Clarice Herzog, filed a lawsuit in April 1976 in São Paulo federal court, demanding that the state be held responsible for her husband’s arrest, torture, and death. In October 1978, Judge Márcio José de Moraes condemned the union’s crimes.
This decision is considered historic as it was taken under AI-5 (Institutional Law No. 5), a law that strengthens repression and torture.
The judge disagreed with friends who advised him to wait for the decision to be published because AI-5 would not take effect until the end of the year.
“I handed down the sentence with AI-5 activated. I am proud to have had this vision. It would be a reaction, a cry for judicial independence. I have already solidified my conviction and will condemn the federation. This gesture, if given in the climate of dictatorship under AI-5, would only have value as a kind of political cry of rebellion against the dictatorship,” Márcio Moraes said in an interview. sheet In 2005.
He was in his second month as a federal judge when he took over the case. A sitting judge nearing retirement was unable to issue a ruling because the dictatorship decided that a judge at the end of his career would be more comfortable criticizing the state than a novice, who, according to Moraes, “has much more to lose.”
The new justices said they received a memo from their predecessors that read: “Little did they know that in forbidding me to read the judgment, they were in far more able and heavier hands.”
Moraes reported that to ensure their safety, he sent the woman and her two daughters to Jacalai, in the interior of São Paulo, where her parents live. He also said he was taking a leave of absence to focus on the 67-page judgment that held the state responsible for Herzog’s murder.
The dictatorship claimed that Vlad had hanged himself in his cell using a belt, but the uniforms DOI-Codi prisoners wore did not have belts. A government-produced photo released by the government showed the reporter with his knees bent and his body dangling at a distance shorter than his height. While preparing for burial, they discovered marks of torture on his body.
“The report was useless and only signed by the experts. The lead expert signed it without performing an autopsy. The report, which was the coalition’s main evidence, was invalid. Witnesses told what happened in those facilities. Some heard Herzog’s screams. That was enough evidence to convince me that Herzog died from torture,” the judge said in an interview.
After the verdict, Moraes received a letter from Vlad’s mother, Zola Herzog, thanking him for his courage. “My son will not return, but his honor will not be tarnished. Even if his disappearance was not a waste of history for this country, for me his loss is decisive and there is no consolation for my pain,” she said.
Zola’s letter was read out by actress Fernanda Montenegro and shown on video at a memorial event for Herzog at the Sé Cathedral on October 25 this year.
Moraes is one of the guests announced at this Monday’s event. The debate will begin at 10am with a conversation with OAB-SP President Leonardo Sica. Celso Campilongo, USP Law Dean; Ivo Herzog, Vlad’s son and director of the institute that bears his father’s name. and Maria Vitoria Benevides, Chair of the Arnes Committee. The debate will be mediated by Japanese journalists. sheet Patricia Campos Melo.
José Carlos Díaz, a former justice minister who has defended political prisoners, and Samuel McDowell Figueiredo, one of the lawyers who worked on Clarice’s case against the federal government, are also expected to participate.
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