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Adamour Guedes, Given Protection
IGLHRC
 Last Thursday a request by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and others for police protection for Adamor Guedes, president of Amazonian Association of Gays, Lesbians and Transvestites (AAGLT), was granted. A letter signed by Dr. Frederico da Silva Veiga, Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, states that Mr. Guedes has been given permanent police protection.
In late December, 2002, a Military Police Officer whose surname is Edras shot a transvestite, "Ze Galinha," in front of several witnesses. The police arrived on the scene few minutes after the murder. Although the killer had been held by these witnesses, police refused to arrest him. The incident was reported to the local gay, lesbian and transvestite organization AAGLT (Associação Amazonense de Gays, Lésbicas e Travestis). AAGLT conducted an intense media campaign that included street demonstrations demanding that police take seriously the testimony of the witnesses and that they arrest the murderer. Seeking legal advice, AAGLT contacted MP Mário Frota, chair of the Human Rights Commission in the local legislature. Mr. Frota appointed the Commission's secretary, lawyer Marcelo Cruz, to assist in the case. AAGLT went to Court, and the judge ordered the preventive arrest of the murderer, Officer Edras. The arrest has not taken place yet. Two days later, an attempt to break-and-enter into the home of AAGLT's President, Mr. Adamor Guedes, took place. When Mr. Guedes complained to police, he was told that the attempt had been carried out by a group of policemen under the command of Edras. On January 19, 2003, a lawyer, Marcelo Cruz, was shot in the leg as he was about to enter his car. The attacker told Mr. Cruz that it was "just a warning" and that something similar would happen to Mr. Guedes at any moment. On January 20, 2003, MP Mário Frota and laywer Marcelo Cruz met with the Secretary of Security for the Amazonas State, Mr. Júlio Pinheiro, and demanded protection for Mr. Cruz. This request was denied. On January 27, 2003, Marcelo Cruz was found dead in his apartment. According to some of his friends who were with him at a bar the night before, 2 armed men had forced Mr. Cruz to drink from a glass at the bar. The local Forensic Pathology office could not establish the cause of death, and sent Mr. Cruz's body to Brazília (the country's capital) for further examination. But a preliminary report indicates "poisoning" as the most likely cause of death. Mr. Cruz had been involved in several criminal investigations, including issues such as child prostitution, traffic of women, and corruption by State authorities, making it difficult to determine which of the groups disposed of him. However, the threats, uttered by the man who'd attacked him on January 19, point in the direction of the Military Police and the murder by the police of a transgendered person. Meanwhile, Mr. Guedes has received several death threats by phone. |
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