The Federal Court of Rio ordered urgent measures for the state of Rio de Janeiro to preserve a vast documentary collection of historical value currently at risk in the deactivated building of the former Instituto Médico Legal (IML), located on Avenida Mem de Sá, in Lapa, central region of the city. The decision followed the action filed by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF.) The court gave the State a period of five days to reinforce the security of the building and the collection will be taken to a safe place.
Due to the abandonment of the property, the failure to preserve it and the frustration of the conciliation hearing, “The Court determined that the state government must ensure, within five days, the daily and permanent presence of at least ten 24-hour security guards at the former IML, or guarantee security through the Civil or Military Police, to effectively prevent access by intruders.”
The Federal Court also ordered the removal of the entire collection to a property it owns and possesses (which could be the State Archive) or a rented property, within a non-extendable period of 30 days. The destination location must have air conditioning for the preservation of the collection and a structure to receive authorities and institutions for cleaning, sorting and cataloging work, under the supervision of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan). Failure to comply with the measures will result in a fine of R$100,000”, wrote in the decision.
Initially, the action presented by the assistant attorney for Citizens’ Rights in Rio de Janeiro Julio Araujo had the objective of ordering the Union to complete the process of reversing the property, take possession and initiate permanent maintenance measures. The body requested that the Union also prepare an occupation plan and adopt the necessary measures to process the historical documentation, sending it to the state and national public archives, considering the “precarious state of conservation” of the property.
Given the omission of the state of Rio de Janeiro in preservation and the lack of results from the conciliation hearing, the Federal Court issued an urgent decision, considering that the documentation concerns the History of Brazil and the dictatorial period, with its preservation, cataloging and study being of national interest.
Historical value
Technical visits by the MPF and other institutions, such as the National Archives and the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan), confirmed the historical relevance of the material and its storage in inadequate conditions, with dispersion, disorganization, the presence of pigeon feces, dirt, broken windows and a lack of electricity in a large part of the building.
The Public Archive of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Aperj) identified microfilms based on cellulose acetate in an advanced and irreversible state of deterioration, and, more seriously, microfilms based on cellulose nitrate, a support with high flammability potential.
The insecurity situation is worsened by the constant presence of invaders, drug users and armed people, in addition to the building being used as a “public bathroom”, which puts documentation at risk of theft, destruction and tampering.
The collection, with approximately 2,919.83 linear meters and approximately 440 thousand iconographic items (photographs and flexible negatives), includes documents from civil police records from the period 1930 to 1960, as well as relevant materials about the period of the military dictatorship, such as information on political disappearances and human rights violations.
