The Law nº 6.683/1979 and the legal invalidity of self amnesty before the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 1988 and the International Law for the Protection of Human Rights

Abstract

The present work has scope to make a critical examine of the extension given to the Law nº 6.683/1979, the questioned Brazilian Law of Amnesty, face of the arguments that determine the legal invalidity of self amnesty before the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 1988 and the International Law for the Protection of Human Rights. In the current context of globalization on the defense of human rights and the growing consolidation of the conception about the nullity of laws called self amnesty, it is essential to analyze the Brazilian case. First, there will be a brief review of the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985, especially the human rights violations that where committed on it, face the importance of the definition of crimes against humanity. Following, will be made a comparison between the existing state duties in the context of transitional justice and the position of Brazil about the theme. After, it will address the technical inapplicability of the Law nº 6.683/1979 to the agents of the State and the offense on comprehension of self amnesty in the Constitution text and international law, understood as treaties and international conventions about human rights ratified in the country, the international behavior and international jurisprudence related. Finally, it should emphasize the possibility of international responsibilization of Brazil face the recent decision that judged to dismiss the allegation of Breach of Fundamental Precept nº 153-6 of the Supreme Federal Court, in which the state has appeared to maintain the so-called self amnesty, and processing of the case Julia Gomes Lund and others (Guerrilha do Araguaia) against the Federal Republic of Brazil in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.