Dilma Rousseff denied compensation for dictatorship persecution

The Human Rights Ministry published an ordinance on Monday denying compensation to former President Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) for having been a victim of political persecution. She was arrested and tortured during the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

The decision was taken by the Amnesty Commission in April this year and published today on Brazil’s federal register.

Ms. Rousseff’s lawyers asked for a monthly pension of BRL 10,700 (USD 2,100) as compensation. The request, presented back in 2002, mentions that she was barred from returning to her undergraduate course at the Federal University of Minas Gerais at the time.

But the Amnesty Commission understood that the request could not be analyzed because Ms. Rousseff had already been granted compensation from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In total, she was given BRL 72,000 from three different states as compensation for torture and political compensation. 

Only the request to the federal government was fully rejected.

President Jair Bolsonaro joked about the denial. “Who knows, if some leftist is back in power, which I hope won’t happen, you can get a pension,” he said during a live broadcast on social media.

During Ms. Rousseff’s 2016 impeachment proceedings, Mr. Bolsonaro — then a congressman — paid tribute to Army Colonel Carlos Brilhante Ustra, who tortured Ms. Rousseff during the military dictatorship. 

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