STJ denies compensation claim against Ustra – 11/30/2023 – Power

By 3 votes to 2, the 4th Panel of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) rejected a request for compensation for moral damages from the family of journalist Luiz Eduardo Merlino to the heirs of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra (1932-2015)

Merlino was tortured and killed in 1971 at DOI-Codi, and Ustra commanded this unit during the military dictatorship.

The majority of ministers followed Isabel Gallotti’s vote, who understood that the case was time-barred. Furthermore, she says that the action should have been filed against the State, and not against an agent of repression.

Joelson Costa Dias, lawyer for the journalist’s family, says he will appeal the decision, initially to the STJ itself.

According to the process, dictatorship agents reported that Merlino had committed suicide in prison, but witnesses confirmed that he was subjected to beatings and successive episodes of torture on the premises of DOI-Codi, in São Paulo, on Ustra’s orders.

In some of these cases, reports say, the colonel was directly involved. Torture led to the death of the political prisoner.

The action was filed in 2010 by Merlino’s sister and partner, when Ustra was still alive. In the first instance, he was ordered to pay R$50,000 in moral damages to each of them. But, in 2018, the São Paulo Court of Justice reversed the decision.

They appealed to the STJ, which began judging the case in August.

At the time, the rapporteur, Minister Marco Buzzi, voted in favor of compensation because he considered that compensation for acts against fundamental rights carried out by the State and its agents during the dictatorship were imprescriptible.

Galloti disagreed. She said that although the Amnesty Law did not prevent the civil liability of public agents during the dictatorship, there was a “social pact” to overcome that moment with its promulgation.

“[Em direito privado]the claim of imprescriptibility threatens social peace”, stated the minister.

After a request for a review (more time for analysis), the case was resumed this Wednesday (30).

Ministers João Otávio de Noronha and Raúl Araújo followed Gallotti’s vote. In favor of compensation, in addition to Buzzi, minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira voted.