In favor of freedom and justice: role of lawyers of persecuted politicians during dictatorship resistance (São Paulo, 1970s)

• Grant number: 12/50499-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: September 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Maria Helena Rolim Capelato
• Grantee: Janaína de Almeida Teles
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The defense lawyers" practice for the politic persecuted - among them especially those located in São Paulo - has been considered decisive to define the contours of the military justice during the dictatorship. Their work contributed to shake the stability of the regime by the national and international public opinion. This research aims to investigate the practice of the defense lawyers for the politic persecuted of São Paulo during the 70's with the purpose of establishing the dynamic of their work by the military justice institutions and repressive apparatus as well by the civil society and groups that formed the solidarity network for the imprisoned - among others families and human rights defense entities. This study will describe the way those lawyers organized themselves and used the legality of the exception to officialize imprisonments of the politic persecuted in an attempt to minimize their suffering and disseminate indictments and the culture of human rights. In a broader way this project will contribute to characterize the practice of those defense lawyers and their different roles in the resistance to the dictatorship. (AU)