Three military policemen get along jail terms for killing journalist in 2007

A São Paulo court has just struck a major blow against impunity by passing long jail sentences on four men, three of them members of the military police, for the 2007 murder of journalist Luiz Barbon Filho. The difficulty of convicting policemen, although they are often involved in press freedom violations, makes the case all the more remarkable. The court sentenced Sgt. Edson Luiz Ronceiro, Capt. Adélcio Carlos Avelino and businessman Carlos Alberto da Costa on 27 March to 18 years and four months in prison on charges of aggravated homicide and “forming an armed band.” Pvt. Paulo César Ronceiro was previously sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison on the aggravated homicide charge alone. Barbon’s widow, Kátia Camargo, was put on a witness protection programme before testifying. A journalist based in Porto Ferreira (in the state of São Paulo) who wrote for two local newspapers, Jornal do Porto and JC Regional, Barbon accused five local officials and four businessmen of sexual abuse of teenagers in an article in 2003. Of all the people who were arrested and charged in connection with the case, only one, a waiter who allegedly organised sex parties, is still detained. Aged 37, Barbon was gunned down in a Porto Ferreira bar on the evening of 5 May 2007 by two masked men who arrived on a motorcycle. He died of gunshot injuries to the abdomen after being rushed to a hospital. (Photo : Folha online)