BRASILIA (BDCi) – Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff signed a law that creates the truth commission, aimed at investigating all accounts of human rights abuse, including those which took place during the 1964-1985 military rule.
According to BBC, the commission will be given the power to call on witnesses under oath as well as access to all government documents. But an amnesty law prohibits any findings from reaching prosecution.
Over 400 Brazilians were killed under military rule and Rousseff was one of thousands tortured.
Rouseff says, “the truth about our past is fundamental, so those facts that stain our history will never happen again.” She added that the new law honors the generations of Brazilians who have died “though a process of building truth and memory” and not through revenge.
The seven-member truth commission will be appointed by Rousseff and they will be given two years to complete a report on abuses taking place from 1946 to 1988.
Some human rights groups have found disappointment in the fact that the investigation will not lead to prosecution, something that has taken place in other South American countries, like Argentina after its Dirty War.
By: Diego Díaz Source: BBC Photo: Reuters 21 November 2011
9:16 a.m. P.D.T.