1981, the officer of the court was ordered to go to the region of the conflict “to safeguard the continued presence” of the occupying rural workers. 68 B.3. Threats against rural workers and Gabriel Sales Pimenta 54. The statements allege that in 1982 Gabriel Sales Pimenta filed complaints on three occasions about threats against and murders of rural workers in Pau Seco before the National Public Security Secretariat in Belém, capital of the state of Pará. The most recent complaint was made in June of 1982. 69 55. Moreover, the threats 70 against Gabriel Sales Pimenta had begun at least by December of 1981, after his success in reversing the eviction of the rural workers from the Pau Seco area. 71 B.4. Death of Gabriel Sales Pimenta and police investigation 56. On July 18, 1982, Gabriel Sales Pimenta went to the bar known as “Bacaba” in the city of Marabá along with some acquaintances. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Gabriel Sales Pimenta, Edson Rodrigues Guimarães, 72 and Neuzila Cerqueira Guimarães left the bar together. After the three of them had gone 30-35 meters toward the vehicle of their friend Rosa Almeida—who had lent it to them so they could drop Ms. Cerqueira off at her home—they passed by a beige, almost white, Volkswagen Beetle that was parked. A man got out of that vehicle 73 and shot Mr. Sales Pimenta three times. Mr. Sales Pimenta died instantly. 74 The man then allegedly fled in the same vehicle. According to the statement of Edson Rodrigues, there were two other men in the vehicle. 75 57. The police investigation began the next day. 76 On July 22, 1982, the Commissioner of the Crimes against Persons Division, 77 who was in charge of the police investigation, identified M.C.N. 68 Cf. Order issued by the judge of law in the Judicial District of Marabá December 21, 1981 (evidence file, folio 4956). 69 Cf. Statement of Risomar Daniel Castro from the instruction and trial hearing on March 24, 2011 (evidence file, folio 2011). 70 M.C.N. and J.P.N. stated that they would kill Gabriel Sales Pimenta before August 4, 1982—the date set for the hearing for the restitution of possession action mentioned above. In this regard, several declarants said they had seen: (i) gunmen pass in front of the house of Gabriel Sales the day of his death and say “this is the man's house,” and then go to the house of M.C.N. and enter it; (ii) two alleged gunmen of M.C.N. talking in a bar, with one saying to the other that he needed to “carry out the contract” for M.C.N.; and (iii) certain individuals at the house of M.C.N. who appeared to be gunmen. In addition, Antonio Francisco da Silva stated that Gabriel Sales Pimenta told him that he was being threatened with death by M.C.N. and J.P.N. Cf. Statement by Risomar Daniel Castro on July 21, 1982 (evidence file, folios 2230–2231); Statement by João Martins dos Santos on July 19, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2238); Statement by Etelvina Honorato de Paulo on July 21, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2282); and Statement by Antonio Francisco da Silva, supra (evidence file, folio 196). Cf. Record No. ANATAG/15/82, supra (evidence file, folios 2202–2203) and Statement of Rafael Sales Pimenta during the public hearing of this case. 71 Then-candidate for councilman for the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party. Cf. Newspaper article from A Província do Pará titled “Suspeitos já estão no xadrez” from July 21, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2292). 72 73 An eyewitness, Luzia Batista da Silva, saw how the same Beetle-type car reappeared at the scene of the crime, parking nearby. According to her, two people came out of that vehicle asking what had happened, one of whom Luzia recognized as the same person who had just been driving the same Beetle-type vehicle and whom she identified as J.P.N. on August 2, 1982. Cf. Statement of Luzia Batista da Silva on July 31, 1982 (evidence file, folios 2226–2227); Annex to the request for pretrial detention signed by Commissioner Luiz Carlos de Carvalho on August 6, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2244); and Record of identification made by Luzia Batista da Silva on August 2, 1982 (evidence file, folios 2273–2274). Cf. Request for pretrial detention signed by the Commissioner of the Crimes against Persons Division, supra (evidence file, folio 2210); Statement by Edson Rodrigues Guimarães on July 21, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2220); Statement by Risomar Daniel Castro on April 17, 1991 (evidence file, folios 241–242); Order of the judge in criminal trial No. 86200004-0 on August 31, 2000 (evidence file, folio 291); Report by the police superintendent on September 8, 1982 (evidence file, folio 2265); and Statement of Risomar Daniel Castro, supra (evidence file, folios 2230–2231). 74 75 Cf. Statement by Edson Rodrigues Guimarães, supra (evidence file, folio 2220). 76 Cf. Judgment issued by the Third Civil Court of Marabá, supra (evidence file, folio 1367). According to the news at the time, the commissioner in charge of the investigations observed reticence among the witnesses, which led him to believe that they had been threatened and pressured not to tell the whole truth. It is also known 77 17