Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff, who was jailed and tortured during Brazil’s military dictatorship, was dubbed the “Joan of Arc of the insurgency” by a prosecutor at her 1970s trial, a newspaper said on Friday.
In previously undisclosed court documents obtained by Folha de Sao Paulo, Rousseff testified at her trial that she belonged to the Var-Palmares leftist rebel group, but took no part in any armed action by the group.
Rousseff, 62, who was elected Brazil’s first woman president on Oct. 31, was a member of the guerrilla organization fighting the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985.
She was arrested in Sao Paulo in January 1970 and freed two years later. During her detention, she was subjected to torture to reveal the names of other militants.
At her trial, a military prosecutor called Rousseff the “Joan of Arc of the insurgency.”
The presiding judge wrote that Rousseff became a Marxist-Leninist after “analyzing Brazilian reality, in which she noted income disparities that caused growing poverty among most of the population, alongside the great wealth of a few who are in power and through political repression prevent the emancipation of the Brazilian people.”
The court documents appear to corroborate reports that Rousseff, while in prison and under torture, gave up the names of some of her comrades, a charge she has always denied.
At a Brazilian Senate hearing in 2008, Rousseff defended herself from a lawmaker’s accusations that she had lied to her captors during her time in jail.
“I was 19 years old,” Rousseff said. “I was brutally tortured, senator ... I am very proud to have lied, because lying under torture is not easy.”
“In a democracy you tell the truth. Under torture, if you are brave and honorable, you lie,” Rousseff said.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS