This Monday (10), the University of the South Pacific Law School will promote a debate on the ruling that condemned the Brazilian state, during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), for the murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog.
The debate, held in the college’s main hall, in central São Paulo, is part of the schedule of events in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Herzog’s death, which was completed in October this year. TV Cultura journalist director was killed at the DOI-Codi army headquarters in the capital, São Paulo, on October 25, 1975.
Vlado, as he was known, went to the repression headquarters that day to talk about his activity in the Brazilian Communist Party, resisting the armed struggle against the dictatorship. He died hours later, after being subjected to torture sessions. The regime announced that he committed suicide.
The version was quickly challenged, mobilizing protests, student strikes and public questions of the time, including interfaith action at Si Cathedral that openly challenged the dictatorship.
Vlado’s widow, publicist Clarice Herzog, filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of São Paulo in April 1976, demanding that the state be held responsible for her husband’s arrest, torture, and death. In October 1978, Judge Márcio José de Moraes found the union guilty of the crime.
This decision is considered historic because it was issued with the full force of Institutional Law No. 5 (AI-5), an act that led to intensified repression and torture.
The judge disagreed with his friends who advised him to wait to publish the decision, because AI-5 would not be in effect by the end of that year.
“I issued the ruling with the AI-5 in effect. This vision I am proud of. It will be a reaction, a cry for the independence of the judiciary. It has already formed my conviction, and I would like to condemn the union. This gesture will have value only as a kind of political cry of revolution against the dictatorship, if it is presented under the climate of dictatorship, under the AI-5,” said Márcio Moraes in an interview with Bound In 2005.
He had been a federal judge for two months when he took the case. The sitting judge, who was about to retire, was prevented from passing judgment because, according to Moraes, the dictatorship believed that a judge at the end of his career would feel more comfortable convicting the state than a junior judge who “had more to lose.”
The new judge said he had received the following remark from his predecessor: “By preventing me from reading the sentence, they do not know that their hand is much stronger and heavier.”
Moraes reported that he sent the woman and her two daughters to Jacare, inside São Paulo, where her parents live, to ensure their safety. He also said he was taking a leave of absence to devote himself to the 67-page resolution that acknowledged state responsibility for Herzog’s murder.
The dictatorship claimed that Vlado hanged himself in his cell with a belt – even though the uniform worn by prisoners at DOI-Codi had no belts. The photo published by the government, and taken by the regime, showed the journalist on his knees, with his body hanging at a distance shorter than his height. While preparing for burial, they found traces of torture on his body.
The judge said in the interview: “The report was useless, and was signed only by an expert. The chief expert signed without conducting an autopsy. The report, the main evidence of the union, was not true. Witnesses recounted what happened in those facilities. Some heard Herzog’s screams. That was enough evidence to convince me that Herzog died due to torture.”
After the sentencing, Moraes received a letter from Zora Herzog, Vlado’s mother, thanking him for his courage. She said: “My son will not return, but his good reputation will not be tarnished. If his disappearance is not in vain in the country’s history, then for me his loss is final, and my pain is inconsolable.”
Zora’s letter was read by actress Fernanda Montenegro and appeared in a video during the memorial service for Herzog, on October 25 this year, at the Cathedral of Cathedral.
Moraes is one of the guests announced at Monday’s event. The discussion will begin at 10 a.m. with a conversation between Leonardo Sica, President of OAB-SP; Celso Campelongo, Director of the University of the South Pacific School of Law; Ivo Herzog, Vlado’s son and chairman of the board of directors of the institute that bears his father’s name; and Maria Vitoria Benevides, Chair of the Arnes Commission. The discussion will be moderated by a journalist Bound Patricia Campos Melo.
Also expected to participate are former Justice Minister José Carlos Dias, who worked in the defense of political prisoners, and Samuel McDowell Figueiredo, one of the lawyers who worked on Clarice’s case against the union.
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