Last week, the trial of three more defendants involved in the case of the attack by skinheads on Jews in Porto Alegre on May 8, 2005 was held between Tuesday, March 28 and Friday. The process, which has been ongoing for 18 years in Court of Justice of RShas already resulted in the conviction of five other defendants for the crime.
In the decision, Leandro Maurício Patino Braun was convicted of attempted double homicide. The penalty is 12 years, 8 months and 13 days in prison in an initially closed regime. The judges ruled out the cruel means qualifier. Defendants Valmir Dias da Silva Machado Júnior and Israel Andriotti da Silva were acquitted.
For the president of Israeli Federation of Rio Grande do Sul (FIRS), Marcio Chachamovich, the acquittal of two of the defendants, even with evidence and witnesses of their participation in the crime, is regrettable: “the feeling is of impunity. But, unfortunately, the jurors, who are the mirror of society, understood that the crime suffered by the defendants did not come from these two who were acquitted, which, for me, is very strange.”
FIRS legal director, Daniel Báril, emphasizes the pedagogical importance of the jury, even 18 years after the event: “it is a shame that we have to be here because of a hate crime in Rio Grande do Sul. The world could have already overcome this stage, and start to respect minorities. But, on the other hand, we have to be hopeful, because there is a social pedagogical representativeness in this, which can prevent us from having to face situations like this again in the future.”
the case
In the early morning of May 8, 2005, Rodrigo Fontella Matheus, Edson Nieves Santanna Júnior and Alan Floyd Gipsztejn were walking in the Cidade Baixa neighborhood, in the capital, when they were attacked by a group of skinheads, with neo-Nazi ideology. The victims wore kippah (a hat worn by Jews). The group of attackers was inside a bar when they saw the boys.
Rodrigo Fontella Matheus was hit with a knife, punches and kicks. The crime was not consummated because the victim had the intervention of third parties and prompt medical attention.
Edson Nieves Santanna Júnior was also attacked by the group, with a knife. He managed to escape and seek shelter inside the bar. Lastly, Alan Floyd Gipsztejn was attacked, and also managed to escape into an establishment.
Jury
The trial, which lasted four days, was held in the capital’s grand jury plenary, located at Foro Central I. The defendants Valmir and Israel participated in the trial. Leandro, however, was not present.
On Tuesday, the three victims of aggression, Rodrigo, Edson and Alan, and two witnesses listed by the prosecution, both doctors, medical students at the time who were close to the scene of the fact and provided first aid to victims were heard.
“My brother, who wasn’t attacked, had an even bigger trauma than mine. He’s older than me and he took me to the hospital, screaming that I was dying. And he never set foot in Cidade Baixa again”, reports Edson.
“There was a barrier of people protecting others, who were hitting someone (Rodrigo). They kicked and stomped on his head. I thought the victim had died,” recalls the witness, who helped Rodrigo.
On Wednesday, the second day of the trial, six more witnesses were heard by the Sentencing Jury. “No aggression was light, only heavy things, to hurt. There were constant attacks, non-stop. Cowardice. He (the victim) was lying on the ground and they continued to attack”, said the third witness in the case, who defines the moment witnessed as a massacre.
Another witness to the incident, Paulo’s girlfriend (brother of the victim Edson Nieves Santanna Júnior) at the time, witnessed the moment of the attacks and revisited details of the incident 18 years ago: “We (the witness and Paulo) spent the night in the hospital. Afterwards, we went home to tell Junior’s mother (Edson), who was staying at my house for Mother’s Day, that her son was in the hospital, because he had been attacked by neo-Nazis. After that, we spent more than a year “imprisoned”, without leaving home. We are the ones trapped. Out of fear and because we received threats. I woke up one day and there was a swastika drawn on the front of my house.”
On Thursday, the two remaining witnesses testified in the morning. One of them, listed by the defendant’s lawyer Israel Andriotti da Silva and the defendant’s wife, at the time of the events, confessed to the authorship of loving letters and dedications (to Israel) containing neo-Nazi symbols.
In the afternoon, the interrogation of the defendants who were present in plenary, Israel and Valmir, began. Valmir stated in his testimony that he was already part of a separatist movement called Carecas do Brasil. He preferred not to respond to questions from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the prosecution’s assistance.
During interrogation in Israel, the defendant confessed to having been a neo-Nazi and having tattoos with symbols that allude to Nazism: “in my city (Guaíba), I always got along well with everyone. But when I was with them (neo-Nazis) in Porto Alegre, I was a different person, I was “theirs”.
The jury debate phase was held on Friday. The debates between prosecution and defense began with the speeches of prosecutors of the Public Ministry and the prosecution assistance.
Prosecutor Luiz Eduardo Azevedo explains the thesis that the alibis presented by the defense of the defendants are not sustainable to prove the possibility that the defendants did not commit the crime in question, since none could prove that he was with the defendants at the time of the aggressions.
Prosecutor Lúcia Helena Callegari follows up on the prosecutor’s explanation: “what “people” (jurors) answer today is what “people” want out there. It is what “we” want to show the world”. Lúcia Helena elucidates the various acknowledgments of the defendants made by witnesses who were present at the scene at the time of the attacks. It brings the evidence, from the recognitions, that lead to believe that the defendants were part of the criminal acts, according to the prosecution’s thesis.
Next steps
The Israeli Federation of RS hopes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will appeal to review the sentence, due to the robust evidence of participation in the crime by the two defendants who were acquitted.
