Definitive Report - Report No 135, March 1973

Case No 632 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 08-JUN-70 - Closed

1. 99. The Committee last examined this case at its 61st Session, held in Geneva on 30 May 1972, when it submitted to the Governing Body an interim report contained in paragraphs 119 to 148 of its 131st Report. This report was adopted by the Governing Body at its 186th Session (Geneva, 2-3 June 1972).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 100. After the Committee's last examination of the case, only one series of allegations - those concerning the arrest and death of the trade unionist Olavo Hansen - remained outstanding.
2. 101. The allegations concerning Mr. Olavo Hansen had been made by the Latin American Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CLASC) in a communication dated 6 June 1970, by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) in a communication dated 17 June 1970 and by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in a communication dated 19 June 1970. The Government had forwarded its observations in a communication dated 27 October 1970.
3. 102. The complainants maintained that a Sao Paulo trade unionist, Mr. Olavo Hansen, had been arrested together with sixteen of his colleagues during the officially authorised May Day celebrations at the "Maria Zélia" sports ground in Sao Paulo. It was further alleged that Mr. Hansen had been subjected to lengthy interrogation by the political police (DEOPS) and so badly treated that when he got back to his cell he could no longer stand. For several days he was said to have been left lying on his bed, unable to get up, speak or even urinate. On 13 May his corpse was found near the Ipiranga Museum, covered with lesions and bruises resulting from the brutal torture inflicted on him. His death was officially registered on 9 May 1970 but his family was informed only on 13 May 1970 (the date on which his corpse was discovered).
4. 103. The Government forwarded its observations on the above allegations in its communication of 27 October 1970. The Government's reply consisted essentially summary of the report to the examining magistrate on the official investigation carried out by the Public Prosecutor's office to determine the causes of Olavo Hansen's death. According to this document, Olavo Hansen and others were arrested on 1 May 1970 at the "Villa Maria Zélia" sports stadium and a police inquiry was ordered into their attempted breach of the security of the State, which consisted in the distribution of subversive pamphlets. According to the Government, Hansen was a militant member of the Trotskyist wing who had already been brought to trial before a military court in 1964 and maintained contact with individuals charged with crimes against national security, besides being an agent for the newspaper Frente Operaria (an organ of the Revolutionary Workers' Labour Party).
5. 104. The Government further stated that after Hansen had been handed over to the No. 1 Police Battalion and then to the "Operaçao Bandeirantes" (OBAN), he was interrogated by the Department of Political and Social Order (DEOPS) on 4 May 1970. Mr. Dias, who carried out the preliminary questioning, noted that at the time "he showed no signs of any injury or ill treatment".
6. 105. The Government added that on 8 May, Hansen said he did not feel well and asked for a doctor. He was examined by Dr. Ciscato (the physician at the policlinic of the DEOPS), who ordered him to be taken to the military hospital at São Paulo, where he was given a bed and suitable treatment. Hansen died at about 6 a.m. on the following morning (9 May); the cause of death was established by the doctor on duty at the military hospital as kidney failure due to a chronic, and finally acute, condition. The post mortem report of the same date stated that internal examination of the body was negative from the anatomo-pathological and forensic standpoints. However, a toxicological examination of the stomach content, of the liver and of the blood sample was positive in revealing the presence of the insecticide "Paration".
7. 106. The Government further stated that up to the evening before his arrest, Mr. Hansen had been working at the "Industria Agro-Pecuaria", an undertaking which handles fertilizers and insecticides, some of the latter containing a product called "Paration". While it had not been established that he had any of this product on his person at the time of his arrest, the police thought it possible that he might have had some hidden in his clothing or about his person. The Government further advised that Dr. Ciscato, who had been called out on the night of 8 May to examine Hansen, had claimed that Hansen had told him that he had suffered from kidney trouble for many years and was undergoing treatment for it. Dr. Ciscato was of the opinion that Hansen's death was due to kidney failure.
8. 107. The Government stated in conclusion that the investigation into the cause of Mr. Hansen's death had revealed poisoning by the insecticide "Paration" as the most likely cause of death, since all the evidence showed that at the time of his arrest he either had a quantity of this poison on his person or else was suffering from chronic poisoning which led to kidney failure. The Government accordingly maintained that since he had been in this condition prior to his admission to the military hospital, and since he had received proper medical treatment at the hospital, his death was due to natural causes and could not therefore be attributed to any third parties.
9. 108. At its session in February 1971, the Committee noted, from the Government's observations, that an inquiry had been held which had concluded that no third party could be held responsible for Hansen's death. It had felt bound to point out, however, that while the inquiry had concluded that Mr. Hansen had died on 9 May 1970 as a result of "Paration" poisoning operating on a kidney condition, the Government had not presented any comments or observations with regard to the allegation that Hansen's bruised and battered corpse had been found outside the Ipiranga Museum on 13 May 1970, the day on which his family was notified of his death. The Committee considered that it required further information from the Government in order to enable it to reach its conclusions on this aspect of the complaint.
10. 109. The Committee accordingly recommended the Governing Body: (i) to request the Government to supply detailed information concerning the procedure followed during the interrogation of Mr. Olavo Hansen; (ii) to request the Government to communicate its observations concerning the allegations according to which the body of Olavo Hansen was found, covered with lesions and bruises, near the Ipiranga Museum on 13 May 1970, as well as the text of the judgement delivered and the grounds adduced therefor.
11. 110. In a communication dated 20 October 1971, the Government confined itself to repeating that Mr. Hansen had died in the military general hospital of Sao Paulo, a fact which, in its opinion, removed any basis from the allegations referred to in the preceding paragraph.
12. 111. At its session in November 1971 the Committee, in the hope of clarifying the matter, requested the complainants to furnish any further precise information and evidence at their disposal concerning this aspect of the case.
13. 112. At its May 1972 Session, the Committee noted that it had received no new information with regard to this particular aspect of the case.
14. 113. In the circumstances, the Committee recommended the Governing Body: (a) to note once again, the serious nature of the allegations relating to the circumstances of Mr. Olavo Hansen's death; (b) to give the complainants a further opportunity of supplying the information mentioned in paragraph 111 above and to request the Government once again to supply the information specified in paragraph 109 above.
15. 114. Subsequently the WFTU, in a communication dated 6 June 1972, states that it has been assured by Brazilian trade unionists of the truth of the information related in paragraph 102 above. The WFTU encloses extracts from Brazilian newspapers of the time referring to the violent death of Mr. Olavo Hansen at the hands of the political police.
16. 115. The WFTU states in its communication that the Member of Parliament and leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), Mr. Pedroso Horta, raised the question of Mr. Hansen's death in the Chamber of Deputies, demanding that the Government order an inquiry into Hansen's death in the Santo André prison and take steps to ensure that the torturers were punished. The deputy chief of the party in power (Alianza Renovadora), Mr. Cantidio Sampao, is said to have stated that an inquiry would be instituted and would result in those responsible being punished, "for the Government did not approve of such acts".
17. 116. The WFTU goes on to say that on the same day another Member of Parliament, Humberto Lucena, mounted the rostrum of the Chamber of Deputies to read a telegram sent by the Sao Paulo trade unions to the President of the Republic, "informing him of Olavo Hansen's assassination by the political police in Santo André prison". After hearing this denunciation, Mr. Cantidio Sampao is reported to have stated that it was surprising in the circumstances that the cause of Olavo Hansen's death was said to be "unknown", as it had been by the Institute of Forensic medicine.
18. 117. The WFTU states that finally Mr. Olavo Hansen's parents went to the Chamber of Deputies to ask Mr. Pedroso Horta, leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, to secure condemnation of "the criminal act committed by the political police". Pedroso Horta is said to have told Mr. Hansen's parents that there was no point in continuing their efforts "because the Government enjoyed a substantial majority in Parliament and it was impossible to obtain an inquiry".
19. 118. In conclusion, the WFTU states: "Olavo Hansen's death in the São Paulo prison made a very great impression on the Brazilian trade unions and also on public opinion. By its systematic refusal to hold an inquiry, as proposed in the Chamber of Deputies and by the trade union organisations of Sao Paulo, the: Government of Brazil merely admits to the crime committed against the worker Olavo Hansen, who was employed in the São Paulo chemical industry and was a member of the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry Workers' Union of Santo André and Maria".
20. 119. For its part, the Government supplied further observations in a communication dated 30 October 1972.
21. 120. In this communication, the Government points out that the further information supplied on 6 June 1972 by the WFTU - the text of which had been passed on to it - adds nothing to the complaint lodged by this organisation on 19 June 1970 since, states the Government, this information is confined to a very one-sided summary of information published by certain newspapers at the time of Mr. Hansen's death, when the result of the inquiry held by the judicial authorities had not yet been made known.
22. 121. The Government considers that all the questions raised by Mr. Hansen's death were sufficiently clarified in its first letter of 27 October 1970, in which all the information supplied to the Ministry of Labour and social welfare by the competent bodies of the judicial authorities were duly communicated to the Committee. The Government nevertheless presents the observations dealt with in the following paragraphs.
23. 122. The case concerning Mr. Olavo Hansen, states the Government, as it has always maintained, has no connection with the exercise of trade union activities. The real nature of the activities in which Mr. Hansen was engaged at the time of his arrest is clearly shown by the texts that he and his companions were distributing. These texts aimed above all at inciting workers to subversion against law and order and were signed by the "Revolutionary Labour Party, Brazilian Section of the Fourth International".
24. 123. The Government repeats that Mr. Olavo Hansen died at the general military hospital of São Paulo, where he had been taken urgently to receive the medical treatment required by an acute condition of kidney failure. After being examined by a group of doctors from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the body was returned to the family for burial. The experts stated that the cause of death was a kidney condition that had never been properly treated.
25. 124. The Government admits that this case was discussed in the Brazilian press as well as in the National Congress. It adds that this merely serves to show the existence in Brazil of normal freedom of expression, making it possible to throw light on such questions. Furthermore, states the Government, "it cannot be said, without distorting the truth, that the Brazilian Government opposed an inquiry into the matter: the Chamber of Deputies did not consider it advisable to hold such an inquiry in view of the fact that in the particular case of Mr. Hansen's death a judicial inquiry had immediately been opened by the judge presiding over the second military judicial circumscription, on the order of the Secretary for Public Safety of the State of São Paulo".
26. 125. The Government of Brazil - the reply continues - considers the matter closed. It has been dealt with by a court decision, dated 19 December 1970, in which the judge concluded, after examining all the facts, that Mr. Hansen died a natural death due to an acute condition of kidney failure. The legal procedure followed its normal course and the case has now been disposed of. Consequently the Brazilian Government has no right to reopen it.
27. 126. By a communication dated 22 January 1973 addressed to the Director-General, the Federation of Workers in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries of the State of Sao Paulo, on its own behalf and on behalf of its affiliate, the Union of Workers in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries of Santo André, requests that the case concerning Mr. Olavo Hansen should be dismissed; in support of this request, the organisation concerned stresses that the matter has been elucidated in a satisfactory manner by the competent national bodies.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 127. Having taken note of this communication, the Committee notes that it emanates from an organisation which is not a complainant. Since the original complainants have themselves not withdrawn their complaints, and since both the WCL and the Government have supplied new information on the substance of the matter, the Committee considers that the communication from the Federation of Workers in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries of São Paulo should not cause it to discontinue its examination of the case, and it considers that the case should be examined on its merits.
2. 128. The Committee notes the observations of the Government contained in its communication of 30 October 1972 and set out in paragraphs 120 to 125 above. It regrets, however, that the Government has refrained from supplying, as it had been requested, precise information as to the procedure followed in interrogating Mr. Hansen, and its observations on the specific allegations according to which the body of Mr. Hansen, who died on 9 May 1970, was found covered with bruises on 13 May near the Ipiranga Museum. This information would have been useful in attempting to shed light on the facts referred to in the complaints.
3. 129. Despite its repeated efforts to obtain information likely to help it in establishing the truth on the disturbing circumstances surrounding Mr. Olavo Hansen's death, the Committee is obliged to recognise that, since it first began its examination of this case, there have been two conflicting versions of what took place, which makes it impossible for it to express an opinion in full knowledge of the facts.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 130. In the circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to note the further information supplied by the World Federation of Trade Onions, set out in paragraphs 114 to 118 above, as well as the observations of the Government contained in the communication of 30 October 1972 and set out in paragraphs 120 to 125 above;
   • (b) to regret that the Government has refrained from supplying the precise information requested on the points mentioned in paragraph 128 above, which information would have been useful in attempting to shed light on the facts referred to in the complaints; and
   • (c) to deplore the fact that, despite its repeated efforts to secure information likely to help it in establishing the truth surrounding the circumstances of Mr. Olavo Hansen's death, the Committee, and subsequently the Governing Body, remains faced with two conflicting versions of the facts and is therefore unable to express an opinion concerning allegations of the utmost gravity.