Interim Report - Report No 214, March 1982

Case No 1041 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 06-APR-81 - Closed

1. 604. The National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG) presented its complaint in a letter dated 6 April 1981. CONTAG supplied additional information on 10 July 1981. The Government replied in a communication dated 3 November 1981.
2. 605. Brazil has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 606. In its communications of 6 April and 10 July 1981, the complainant alleges that proceedings had been instigated in the Twelfth Military Judicial Constituency in Manaus in which José Francisco da Silva, president of CONTAG, Joao Maia da Silva Filho, trade union delegate of CONTAG for Acre and Randónia, Luis Inácio da Silva and Jacó Bittar, union leaders, and Francisco Mendes, adviser, have been accused of inciting to collective disobedience of the law and/or violent struggle between social classes, indictments which under the National Security Act can carry a sentence of up to 30 Years' imprisonment. The complainant claims that the defendants' activities were not criminal but were entirely compatible with the exercise of their trade union rights and that they were accused on 9 February 1981 only because they had stood by their fellow workers and encouraged them to take joint action to defend their rights and protest against the murders and acts of violence and injustice perpetrated by the big landowners and land-grabbers against the rural workers of Brazil and their leaders.
2. 607. The complainant adds that the excuse which the security bodies used this time to undermine the trade union movement - in the person of the president and delegate for Acre of CONTAG - was the death of Nilo Sérgio de Oliveira, a land-grabber, which was brought about on 27 July 1980 by a group of workers infuriated by the murder of the president, of the Rural Workers' Trade Union (STR) of Brasilia, Wilson Souza Pinheiro, at the union's headquarters on 21 July 1980.
3. 608. In its communication dated 10 July 1981, CONTAG states that, at their trial, the president and regional delegate of CONTAG acknowledged that they were in Brasilia on 27 July 1980 to protest against the murder of union leader Wilson Souza Pinheiro, but denied any responsibility in the death of Nilo Sérgio de Oliveira. The complainant adds that the Military Council rejected the public prosecutor's request for the preventive detention of the defendants.
4. 609. In the documentation attached to its communication, CONTAG also cites a considerable number of trade union organisations and representatives of other sectors which have expressed their support of CONTAG in various ways and request that the union leaders concerned be acquitted.

B. The Government's reply

1. 610. In its communication dated 3 November 1981, the Government states that José Francisco da Silva and Joao Maia da Silva Filho were indicted by the Office of the Military Prosecutor under section 36, sections II and IV and sole paragraph, of the National Security Pct ("Inciting ... II - to collective disobedience of the law IV - to violent struggle between social classes Sole paragraph: when such incitement leads to serious bodily injury or death").
2. 611. The Government adds that on 27 July 1980, after attending a meeting of the Workers' Party in Rio Branco (capital of the State of Acre), the defendants went on to Brasilia where they took part in a public demonstration over the death of Wilson Souza Pinheiro, the president of the STR in Brasilia, who had been murdered on 21 July 1980. During this demonstration, they incited the other participants to vengeance, disobedience of the law and violent struggle between social classes. Following the demonstration, continues the Government, Nilo Sérgio de Oliveira, thought by many to be responsible for the death of Wilson Souza Pinheiro, was murdered.
3. 612. Finally, the Government states that the incident has nothing to do with any persecution connected with labour matters, that no threat whatsoever was made against the life and freedom of the defendants, who have in fact been able to continue exercising their trade union functions, and that the court case is still at the judicial investigation stage pending a decision in the matter.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 613. The Committee notes that this complaint relates to the trial in the Twelfth Military Judicial Constituency in Manaus of the union leaders José Francisco da Silva, Joao Maia da Silva Filho, Luis Inácio da Silva and Jacó Bittar, who are accused of incitement to collective disobedience of the law and violent struggle between social classes, indictments which under section 36 of the National Security Act can carry a sentence of up to 30 years' imprisonment.
2. 614. The Committee observes that, according to the complainant, the defendants' activities were not criminal but were entirely compatible with the exercise of their trade union duties, whereas the Government states that, in the course of the public demonstration held in Brasilia on 27 July 1980 over the death of Wilson Souza Pinheiro, the president of the STR in Brasilia, who had been murdered a week before, the defendants incited the other participants to vengeance, disobedience of the law and violent struggle between social classes and that after the demonstration Nilo Sérgio de Oliveira, thought by many to be responsible for the death of Wilson Souza Pinheiro, was murdered.
3. 615. The Committee further notes that the military juridical authority rejected the public prosecutor's request for the preventive detention of the defendants and that the latter have been able to continue exercising their trade union functions as before.
4. 616. In these circumstances, and particularly in view of the divergences between the complainant's allegations and the Government's reply as to the legitimacy of the union leaders' activities during the demonstration held in Brasilia on 27 July 1980 for the death of union leader Wilson Souza Pinheiro and since the judicial proceedings concerning the said leaders are still under way, the Committee feels obliged to express its concern at the severity of the sentences which the union leaders face. It requests the Government to communicate the text of the judgment of the military judicial authorities, with the reasons adduced therefore, and express the hope that the judgement will fully take into account the principles of freedom of association.

The Committee's recommendations

• The recommendations of the Committee
  617. 617 In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve the present interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
• As regards the judicial proceedings concerning the trade union leaders José Francisco da Silva, Joao Maia da Silva Filho, Luis Inácio da Silva and Jacó Bittar, who are accused of violating section 36 of the National Security Act, the Committee, in view of the divergences between the complainant's allegations and the Government's reply, feels obliged to express its concern at the severity of the sentences that the union leaders face, to request the Government to communicate the text of the judgment of the military judicial authorities, with the reasons adduced therefore, and to express the hope that the judgement will fully take into account the principles of freedom of association.