CRIME-BRAZIL: Witness Protection Law to Fight Impunity

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

James Allen Paranayba

BRASILIA, Apr 26 1999 (IPS) - Brazil will soon have a strong ally to fight crime and impunity. A law is in the works to create the Federal Assistance Programme for Victims and Threatened Witnesses.

The project aims to ensure complete protection of witnesses and qualified criminals who agree to collaborate with justice authorities by providing information that will help solve crimes.

It is the antidote already used by the United States to fight the “code of silence” of those who know the perpetrators of crimes, or have evidence that would help police and legal authorities.

Resulting from a broad agreement in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Parliament), the initiative was approved last week by a symbolic vote among party leaders, with only one vote against. The ‘no’ vote was not due to the initiative’s content, but rather to discrepancies with the document’s wording.

The deputies’ agreement across party lines assures a speedy approval of the law in the Senate, as well as presidential enactment before the end of this year’s first legislative semester.

First presented in 1995 by deputy Humberto Costa, the project was combined with various other proposals. Then in 1998 the National Human Rights Secretary of the Justice Ministry put it in its final form, establishing standards for witness protection programmes throughout the country.

The final project received unanimous support from the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the support of all governing and opposition parties.

The new law defines protection under the supervision of the Justice ministry, which will offer financial help, relocation of residence, hiding or change of legal identity.

It will also enable the instrumentation of state and municipal programmes, but under a Commission that will decide the limits of financial help, among other things.

Although it will not grant protection in all cases, the programme will make it easier to verify and punish crimes, according to deputy Nelson Pellegrino, of the opposition Workers Party (PT). “It is one thing Brazil can have that is more advanced,” he added.

The law awaiting approval would also ensure secrecy in the processes involving the informant, including turning in evidence. Authorities hope for collaboration from people who are arrested (if they do not have a prior criminal record), victims, and convicted criminals, explained deputy Alberto Mouro, the project’s rapporteur.

People who are arrested may have their eventual sentence cancelled, and convicts may receive a reduction of their sentences if they collaborate. “It is worth it to release someone dealing with small quantities of drugs in order to catch the chief of trafficking,” indicated Mouro.

The cancellation or reduction of a criminal sentence will be contingent on identifying the perpetrators, finding the victims, or recovering the product of a crime.

The project establishes policies for the protected person. For example, in the case of changed identity, if the person is thought to be out of danger, he or she can choose to reestablish their prior identity.

Protection, which includes the individual’s family, would last for two years with possibility of renewal as decided by the Deliberation Council.

Deputy Moroni Torgan, formerly a commissary with the Federal Police and current rapporteur of a Parliamentary Research Commission on drug trafficking, believes the programme will increase reporting of crime to the authorities, allowing them to fight organised crime more efficiently.

The government may place collaborators who are already incarcerated in special prisons in order to prevent other prisoners from taking revenge on them.

The legislation is based on the project Provita, which the state government of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil, is operating in conjunction with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It was created three years ago and is still considered a success.

Its management is coordinated by the non-governmental Cabinet of Popular Organisations Legal Counsel (GAJOP), a pioneer in witness protection that is sharing its experience with the neighbouring states of Espiritu Santo and Bahia.

By the end of last year, GAJOP had registered 61 protected witnesses in the three states. Expenses reached 145,000 reales (85,000 US dollars) for the year.

A network of religious institutions and NGOs serves as a foundation of support, according to the National Secretary of Human Rights, who predicts the expansion of the programme to other states including Mato Grosso do Sul, Para, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo, in south central Brazil.

Scarce resources limit the programme’s expansion in Brazil, but this can be overcome with help from the community that can offer refuge at a low cost, indicated Pellegrino. For example, he said, “the support of a convent in hiding a protected witness, more than just being safe, is very inexpensive.”

However, Brazil’s resources do not come close to the 20 million dollars the US spends annually to protect 150 witnesses, Pellegrino admitted.

But the law, if it is approved in the Senate as it was in the Chamber of Deputies, ensures the programme’s continued existence, as its financial resources will be included in the federal budget.