In a clearly persecuting process, peasant leader Paulo Sérgio Costa de Araújo, one of the Marielle Franco community leaders was arrested on March 5, accused of joining a “criminal organization” after denouncing torture against the peasants and pointing out police calls Civil and military with the landowner Sidnei Sanches Zamora who, according to the peasants, have intensified the attacks against the land that workers reside.
Community peasants, which reside in southern Amazonas, say the agrarian conflict has intensified in the region in recent months, having suffered several attacks by gunmen together with civil and military police forces. The community houses about 200 families, which began occupation of the area in 2015.
Following the last offensive of the estate, where community leaders were kidnapped and tortured, Paulo Sérgio would have denounced to journalists not only torture and kidnapping, but also that the peasants would have caught Zamora in an illegal wood extraction scheme in the region.
A few days after the coward attack, Paulo was arrested by determination of Judge Danny Rodrigues Moraes, from the 1st Court of the District of Labrea, accused of commanding a "criminal organization". In the text of the court decision that led to the arrest of the activist, the judge even stated, to justify the urgent character of the arrest that: “(…) Paul not only prepares for the invasion of the farm posts, but also in the possibility of that there is a possible slaughter against its employees. (…) Paulo Sérgio is known to be 'Peimudo', 'dangerous' and "would have the courage to suckle in jaguar and leave the facts [sic] hungry."
Prior to prison, however, in an interview with the Amazon Portal Real, the peasant leader states that Zamora would have great influence among local authorities: “He [Sidnei Zamora] has an area of 10,400 hectares of pasture, but he doesn't want to give up from the forest area. There, the farmer has a very large influence trafficking with the Boca do Acre police [municipality of Amazonas], with the Acre police, ”said the activist.
About the community built by the peasants, the leader states: “He has the support of the authorities. And he has the greatest hatred for the name of our community to be Marielle Franco. There he is the owner of the situation. To register a complaint against him, no one can. ”
Paulo Sérgio still complements, reiterating his commitment to the righteous struggle for land: “Here is a city without law. Send who has money, obeys who does not have. Only I don't have [money] and I don't even want to obey. I will not obey the law of terror, ”he says.
According to CPT lawyer, Afonso Chagas, who accompanied the custody hearing where the indefinite prison was maintained: “We will be prepared for everything, including a negative in court, we immediately resort to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). Paulo is arrested for leading a criminal organization, that is, the people who fight for the right to land is criminalized, and the land is public, ”concludes Afonso.
Incra's superintendent in Amazonas, Denis da Silva Pereira, reiterates that the area, in fact, belongs to the Union. According to him, after a cartographic study, Incra identified that the area, which has about 48 thousand hectares, is Inside the New Christmas Gleba and is Révoluta Land.
The landowner in question, Zamora, who claims to be the owner of the land, would never have proven with any title the authorities in question, even being asked several times on the issue. The man, of São Paulo origin, would have declared in 2010, to have at least 3 farms in the Acre region and at least 30,000 heads of cattle, and even composed a landowner who traveled to China to increase the export of his “Green/ecosustainable meat” for the country.