Human Rights Minister Macae Evaristo has approved an order from the Jair Bolsonaro government, overturning the decision of the Amnesty Commission on compensation for the children of people persecuted by the military dictatorship.
The panel analyzed a decision this year by a panel set up to advise the Ministry of Human Rights on amnesty requests by people who suffered some types of politically motivated harassment between 1946 and 1988. The approval was compared to an ordinance published in the Official Gazette, which is a formal act granting a pardon.
At least 12 requests approved or partially approved by the amnesty committee were later canceled by Minister Makae.
Most of them concern children of politically persecuted people, demanding amnesty and compensation for injuries suffered in childhood. This paper, called “Reflexive Persecution,” was accepted several times by universities. However, the ministry dismissed the appeal, stating that the case did not fall under the law on political amnesty.
Asked by the panel about the case, Minister Macae Evaristo said decisions are taken in the absence of sufficient evidence of political persecution or legal framework.
The minister said that while the commission is the main advisory body on the case, it will also take into account the opinions of the Special Adviser for the Defense of Democracy, Memory and Truth and the ministry’s legal adviser.
“In the above case, based on the subsidy presented by the advisor, the Minister concluded that the applicant did not meet the criteria set out in Law No. 10,559 of 2002,” he said in the memo.
She says those whose requests are denied can appeal the decision by presenting “new evidence and arguments that ultimately change the adopted understanding.”
Pardons Commission President Ana María Lima de Oliveira said she wanted to talk to the minister about the theory of reflexive persecution developed by the council, and said she understood that persecution occurs across generations.
“There’s always a certain strangeness in the beginning with these new papers. But I have hope and confidence in the minister’s sensibilities. So if we talk and show the validity of the law, she might indeed follow the advice (of approval),” he says.
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