Commission responds to Armed Forces over torture

The National Truth Commission (“CNV”) stated on a note issued on Wednesday (Jul 2) that it “deplores and regrets” the conclusion reached by the Armed Forces on the use of facilities belonging to the Army, the Navy and the Airforce for purposes of torture during the military dictatorship. In reports sent to the commission, the military state that the premises were never used for illicit ends.

CNV Coordinator Pedro Dallari said that the allegation by the military represents a political position detrimental to the search for the truth. “If a governmental body acts in a manner that is not only surprising but also detached from the truth, what kind of commitment does it have with history?” Dallari told Agência Brasil.

The statement from the Armed Forces was presented to CNV on June 18 in response to questions regarding the illicit use of seven facilities, personnel allocation to these places, use of public resources for maintenance, and the way in which these operations were later on accounted for. The Army, the Navy and the Airforce denied deviations and claimed they were in accordance with the law.

“The data available do not make it possible to corroborate the thesis presented by the commission, according to which the facilities under investigation were used for purposes outside the stipulated public scope,” the document sent by the Brazilian Army reads.

CNV believes that the allegations are unfounded and do not take into account that the Brazilian government itself has “acknowledged its responsibility for the criminal conduct of the military as well as the police, perpetrated during the dictatorship, and that compensation has been paid for no other reason than the facts that, surprisingly, have just been denied.”

For Dallari, the practice of torture in state-controlled premises is not open to dispute. “It is known to all,” he pointed out. He further declared that CNV’s request for information, issued in February, mentions the cases of torture witnessed in the military-owned facilities which resulted in the payment of compensation from the government.

Dallari regards as a paradox the fact that, in the selfsame month the commission received the report from the Armed Forces, it also received documents from the US Department of State, in which great knowledge is showed about the practice of torture in Brazil, including the places investigated by the Armed Forces at the commission’s request. One of files, dating to 1973 and registered as A-90, describes inquiry procedures and also mentions the methods used for the physical and psychological torture, aimed at extracting information.

In the note, the commission says it plans to request clarifications from the Ministry of Defense. “We’ll keep asking,” the coordinator stated. In his view, not only does the situation hinder the work of CNV, which has been given a December deadline to conclude their operations, it is also harmful to the Armed Forces themselves.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira