The defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison but he may appeal the ruling and be granted conditional freedom. The crime happened in 1999, in Querencia del Norte municipality.

Borracha is the first person accused of the death of a landless peasant to be found guilty by a court. The evidence and testimonies submitted in the trial supported the hypothesis of the existence of a criminal organization that acted against the champions of the agrarian reform in Parana.

Families of the victim recalled that only one of the gunmen was sentenced. There is still no knowledge as to who they respond to or who was financing the persecutions, torture and murders occurred at the time of the crime. According to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), 16 rural workers were murdered in Parana between 1995 and 2000. There were 31 attempts of murder, seven cases of torture and 322 people were injured.

In August of 2009, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) condemned Brazil for failing to punish the authorities that illegally hack the phones of rural workers’ associations linked with the MST. The state was sentenced for moral and material damage.

*By Augusto Juncal of Radioagencia NP, Sao Paulo, Brazil.