TRIAL OF THE ACCUSED IN THE TIKUNA
MASSACRE MAY BE POSTPONED
The trial of the murderers of fourteen Tikuna Indians in March 1988 in
the Brazilian State of Amazonas is in danger of being postponed again.
Although the trial was scheduled to begin on 12th December, the Court of
Justice of the State of Amazonas claims that it lacks the necessary funding
to transport the thirteen defendants, and the witnesses and indians who
survived the massacre, roughly one thousand kilometers to Manaus for trial.
Possibly the Court is using this argument in an attempt to counter the
mobilization which has resulted from the efforts of Indian and Indigenist
organizations who have been mobilizing support to ensure that the murderers
come to trial and are punished.
The fourteen Tikuna Indians were murdered near the town of Benjamin
Constant, on the Brazilian frontier with Peru and Colombia. The Indians were
gathered at the village of Sa~o Leopoldo, on the banks of the Solimo~es
river when they were surprised by a group of men who arrived firing guns.
Only four bodies were located, the others having been carried away by
the river. The murder was organized by a lumber man, Oscar Castelo Branco,
who at that time was living illegally on the Tikuna lands. The murderers
were at one point arrested by the Federal Police, but were released by a writ of
Habeas Corpus.
So as to avoid the anti-Indian bias which is prevalent in Benjamin
Constant, a petition was made to hold the trial in Manaus. Only in April of
this year, however, did the Court of Justice consent to the transfer.
PAIAKAN ACQUITTED
Kayapo' Chief Paulinho Paiakan and his wife Irekran, who were accused of
having sexually abused a student named Silvia Leticia, were acquitted this
week at a trial in the town of Redengco in the State of Para'. In sentencing
the judge stated that there was no material evidence that the crime had
ever taken place.
Paiakan became known internationally when he received the Global 500
Award from the United Nations in recognition of his efforts to preserve
the environment. Paiakan has spent the last two years judicially confined
to his village in the Kayapo' Indian Area, awaiting trial.
Brasi'lia, 1st December 1994
CIMI - The Indigenous Missionary Council.