STF resumes judgment on time frame this Wednesday

The resumption of the judgment at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) on the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands is scheduled for this Wednesday (20). The trial had been paused on August 31, when minister Roberto Barroso voted against the landmark thesis.

In total, six ministers have already voted. In addition to Barroso, ministers Edson Fachin (rapporteur), Alexandre de Moraes and Cristiano Zanin voted against the time frame. Ministers Nunes Marques and André Mendonça voted for the constitutionality of the landmark.

The time frame thesis establishes the 1988 Federal Constitution (CF) as a time frame to guide decisions on the right to claim territory by indigenous groups, if they can prove that they occupied a certain region in the year the Constitution was promulgated.

Zanin’s vote was responsible for breaking a tie in the trial in the last session. Zanin followed the thesis presented by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, which proposes the payment of compensation to non-indigenous people for improvements on the land that will be demarcated and, therefore, unoccupied.

According to Moraes, if indigenous ownership is attested on a date after the promulgation of the Federal Constitution (October 5, 1988), the compensation must also cover bare land.

Minister Barroso followed part of the rapporteur’s understanding, Minister Edson Fachin, with the additions made by Cristiano Zanin.

Reaction

After the STF’s interference in the matter, Congress has moved to deliberate on the constitutionality of the time frame of the appropriate sphere.

The agenda for this Wednesday (20) of the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ) of the Senate was to analyze the report by Senator Marcos Rogério (PL-GO) with a vote in favor of Bill (PL) 2,903/ 23, which regulates the time frame, however, the session was postponed at the request of government officials.

The proposal was approved in the Chamber of Deputies at the end of May, after 15 years of processing.

In a recent statement, the former Minister of Agriculture and current senator, Tereza Cristina (PP-MS), criticized Congress’s delay in deciding on the issue and warned that a possible decision by the STF against the time frame “could take away the peace of the field”.

Consequences

As reported by People’s Gazettean example of the consequences of the extinction of the time frame can be seen in the city of Vicente Dutra, in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul, with 4,665 inhabitants.

The city was the target of presidential decree 11.505/23 in which Lula determines the demarcation of indigenous lands in the region without taking into account the constitutional text.

The 711 hectares provided for in the decree will now be allocated to the 182 indigenous people who live in the municipality, according to data from the 2022 Indigenous Census.

Around 230 families will be affected – including small farmers, owners in urban areas and owners of a tourist enterprise.