Federal Justice upheld the conviction of former Civil Police chief Ronaldo Antônio Osmar to more than 14 years in prison for the murder of Spanish missionary Vicente Cañas Costa. The crime took place in 1987, in the Enawenê-Nawê Indigenous Land, in Mato Grosso.
The decision was handed down by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1), which denied an appeal against conviction. The judgment of the decision was published on March 6.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) accusation, the former delegate assembled the perpetrators of the crime, advising on the execution and paying for the crime, in addition to participating in the steps that sought to clarify the death of the missionary.
Before being murdered, Cañas lived in the region for ten years and denounced the presence of loggers and ranchers in indigenous lands in northwest Mato Grosso. He participated in the work group of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) that prepared the studies for the demarcation of the Enawenê-Nawê land.
Historic
In 2006, the former delegate was acquitted by the jury court. Then, the MPF appealed. The decision was annulled in 2015. In 2018, in a new trial, the jury sentenced him to more than 14 years in prison in a closed regime.
The crime occurred in April 1987, when the missionary was stabbed in the stomach. The murder took place on the banks of the Juruena River, and the body was found 40 days later by indigenous people and other missionaries, such as Father Thomaz de Aquino Lisboa, who also made the first contacts with the Enawenê-Nawê indigenous people, in the 1970s.
A Brazil Agency he was unable to locate the defense of the former delegate to comment on the conviction.
