Amazonia: Chief Raoni denounces Bolsonaro before the ICC for "crimes against humanity"
Chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo tribe after a press conference on August 26, 2019, in Bidart in southwestern France.
AP - Bob Edme
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The cacique Raoni Matuktire, an emblematic defender of the Amazon rainforest, on Saturday 23 January asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate for “crimes against humanity” against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of “persecuting” indigenous peoples by destroying their habitat and violating their fundamental rights.
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The complaint of the leader of the Kayapo people and the cacique Almi Surui is a burning requisitory against Jair Bolsonaro: “
Since his inauguration [in January 2019, note], the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has accelerated beyond measure: increase in deforestation 34.5% in one year, the highest rate of assassination of indigenous leaders in eleven years, collapse and threats from environmental agencies.
"
"
This situation,"
continues the complaint which also targets several ministers,
the most dramatic over the past ten years, results directly from the state policy developed by the government of Jaïr Bolsonaro
", which aims to"
remove all obstacles to plunder the riches of the Amazon
”.
Unveiled this Saturday by the
daily
Le Monde,
this fifty-page communication to the ICC, written by French lawyer
William Bourdon
, brings together the accusations made by dozens of local and international NGOs, international institutions and by climate scientists.
Among these accusations, the suspension of demarcation of indigenous territories, the bill to open protected areas to mining and agriculture, the limited budget of environmental agencies taken over by the military, or the unpunished murders of seven leaders. indigenous peoples in 2019.
"
A
destruction of the Amazon rainforest
", essential for climate regulation and hit by record fires in 2020, "would
constitute a direct danger not only for Brazilians but also for all humanity
", underlines the complaint.
The complainants considered that this policy
É
tat leads to "
murder
" of "
forced population transfers
" and "
persecution
" constituting "
crimes against humanity
" as defined by the Rome Statute of the ICC .
Same accusation from health workers
In July 2020, health workers in Brazil also requested an ICC investigation for “
crimes against humanity
” against Bolsonaro, this time for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A month earlier, in an interview with AFP, Chief Raoni accused the far-right Brazilian president of wanting to "
take advantage
" of the pandemic to eliminate his people.
The ICC, created in 2002 to try the worst atrocities committed in the world and which sits in The Hague in the Netherlands, is not obliged to follow up the thousands of requests filed with its prosecutor, who decides independently on the cases to be submit to judges.
►
To listen: Brazil: "The Amazon is being replaced by crops that kill the soil"
(With
AFP)
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