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command positions in the structure of Public Security in the State of Rio Grande do Norte;
this, despite having been charged in dozens of criminal trials, none of which has led to
conviction. The witness continues to receive death threats.
2.
Statements submitted by the State:
a)
Augusto César Oliveira Serra Pinto, Federal Police Chief, Special
Class, Regional Superintendent of the Federal Police Department in the
State of Piauí
On October 20, 1996, the regional police chief of Macaíba opened a police investigation to
discover the circumstances and perpetrators of the murder of Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho.
This investigation was later taken over by the Federal Police. Following an exhaustive
process and having taken more than 80 statements, the police chief in charge of the
investigation submitted a report on June 9, 1997, concluding that the police investigation
had not uncovered sufficient evidence to file charges against any alleged perpetrator of the
death of Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho, and therefore the investigation was discontinued.
On August 31, 1998, the prosecuting attorney from the Office of the Public Prosecutor of
Macaíba asked permission to reactivate the police investigation, which was subsequently
reopened by judicial ruling. At that time, the Office of the Public Prosecutor received
statements that had been taken by Antônio Lopes, known as Carla; but for the most part,
the information given by the people he had interviewed remained unconfirmed.
A judicial process conducted at both the home and the farm of retired civil police officer
Otávio Ernesto Moreira uncovered a Remington shotgun; it was examined and compared to
the 12-gauge cartridge found at the site where Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho was killed. The
evaluation confirmed that the used cartridge had come from the same shotgun. Accordingly,
he requested a warrant for the preventive detention of Otávio Ernesto Moreira, who was
questioned and charged with the murder of Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho.
b)
Gerson de Souza Barbosa, attorney, representative of the Bar
Association of Brazil, designated to monitor the police investigation for the
murder of attorney Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho
During the years when the death of Gilson Nogueira de Carvalho was under investigation,
the civil and military police of the State of Rio Grande do Norte and the Federal Police, as
well as notaries and experts, engaged in a tireless search for the truth to identify the
perpetrators and shed light on the circumstances of the death of Gilson Nogueira de
Carvalho.
Nevertheless, members of local human rights organizations lent no cooperation and
expressed no interest in the investigation. They wanted to further a line of inquiry that
would finger the members of the “golden boys” death squad as perpetrators of the homicide
to the impairment of truth and in exclusion of other investigative hypotheses concerning
responsibility for the death. Nor did the population of the city of Macaíba cooperate with the
investigation, failing to provide the police with accurate, impartial information.
3.
Evaluation by the representatives
a)
Luiz Flávio Gomes, specialist in criminal law and human rights