Brazil truth commission report due

10 December 2014 Last updated at 11:16

A national truth commission in Brazil is releasing a report into human rights abuses nearly 30 years after the end of military rule.

Hundreds of people were killed or disappeared between 1964 and 1985.

Many others were imprisoned and tortured for their political views, including President Dilma Rousseff.

Victims of the abuse and their relatives are demanding the repeal of Brazil's amnesty law, so the perpetrators can be brought to justice.

Controversial amnesty law

The seven-member truth commission spent two years investigating human rights abuses from the period from 1946 to 1988, with the main focus on the military era from 1964 to 1985.

The report, due to be published later on Wednesday in Brasilia, is expected to confirm that more than 400 people were killed or forcibly disappeared under military rule.

The number is far lower than in shorter periods of military rule in neighbouring Argentina and Chile, but thousands of Brazilians were tortured, exiled or deprived of their political rights.

A comprehensive amnesty law in force in Brazil means that unlike in other Latin American nations, the perpetrators of the abuse cannot be brought to justice.

Analysis: Rio de Janeiro correspondent Wyre Davies

Brazil was one of several Latin American nations where the military overthrew democratic governments in the 1960s and 70s.

With support from a considerable part of Brazil's elite and its then small middle class, the generals said they were countering the very real threat of a communist insurgency.

Over the next 21 years, hundreds were killed and thousands were tortured.

Former members of the military reject accusations that torture was commonplace, that it was official government policy.

Earlier this year a former colonel, Paulo Malhaes, told the commission in some detail how he tortured and killed many victims.

Under the protection of immunity, Malhaes, who has since died, also gave specific details about training on torture techniques he and others received in the United Kingdom.

He was one of very few former military men to give such candid evidence as the commission had no powers to subpoena witnesses.

Read Wyre's article in full: Moment of Truth for Brazil's military past

The report is expected to recommend a repeal of the 1979 law, under which neither military officials accused of torture nor left-wing guerrillas accused of violence can face prosecution.

Supporters of the amnesty argue its repeal would do more harm than good by setting sections of Brazilian society off against each other, but opponents say it is the only way to come to terms with the past.

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