Translated and reviewed by Matheus Lucas Hebling
September 24, 2025
Researcher Filipe Cortes de Menezes offers an in-depth analysis of amnesty in the context of transitional justice in the book A Lei de Anistia de 1979 no Brasil: A Superação dos Óbices Jurídico-Estruturais Para a sua Ressignificação Mediante uma Nova Jurisdição Constitucional (STF) Participativa [The 1979 Amnesty Law in Brazil: Overcoming the Legal-Structural Obstacles to Its Resignification Through a New Participatory Constitutional Adjudication (STF)], published in 2025 by Lumen Juris.
The work examines the structural limits that marked Brazil’s return to democracy and discusses the conduct of the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Federal Supreme Court, STF) in the face of demands for the law’s revision, with particular attention to the Araguaia Guerrilla ruling and its legal repercussions.
In the study, the Araguaia Guerrilla appears as an emblematic case for understanding the limitations of the Amnesty Law. While the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the law incompatible with international human rights treaties and ordered accountability measures, the Federal Supreme Court upheld its validity in 2010, guaranteeing that agents of the military regime would not be held to account. This divergence lays bare the institutional impediments that the author calls “legal-structural obstacles,” which are central to the analysis developed in the book.
The principal question raised is how the Brazilian state can, through judicial channels and on democratic foundations, comply with the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning the incompatibility of the Amnesty Law with international treaties.
Among the book’s contributions, the author analyzes documents from the passage of Bill No. 14/1979, which gave rise to the Amnesty Law. The research shows that the legislative process unfolded under the heavy influence of the military regime, resulting in a partial amnesty, distinct from the popular demand for an anistia ampla, geral e irrestrita (“broad, general, and unrestricted amnesty”).
Menezes further underscores the involvement of then-president João Figueiredo in this context and the presence of mechanisms of power concentration that constrained any critical reckoning with the authoritarian past.
The work brings together legal, philosophical, and sociological foundations, drawing on critical human rights theory and on the perspective of participatory democracy. Beyond its analysis of the Brazilian case, the study incorporates a comparative view of transitional justice experiences in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, bringing out similarities and differences in how authoritarian legacies have been confronted.
In closing, Menezes proposes a resignification of the Amnesty Law through the use of constitutional mechanisms that would broaden democratic participation within the Federal Supreme Court. For the author, revising this law, together with strengthening transitional justice, is part of the process of consolidating human rights and democracy in Brazil.
In summary
- The book analyzes the 1979 Amnesty Law in the context of transitional justice in Brazil.
- The study focuses on identifying the institutional limits that prevented full accountability for the crimes of the dictatorship.
- The Araguaia Guerrilla is used as an emblematic case, highlighting the divergence between the rulings of the STF and those of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
- Documents from the legislative process of Bill No. 14/1979 were examined, revealing the heavy influence of the military regime on the final text.
- The work proposes a resignification of the Amnesty Law through constitutional mechanisms that would broaden democratic participation.
About the author
Filipe Cortes de Menezes is a Municipal Attorney and holds a doctorate in Human Rights from Tiradentes University (Universidade Tiradentes, UNIT/SE). His research falls within the Human Rights in Society line of inquiry, with a focus on democracy, transitional justice, and constitutional adjudication. In 2025 he published, with Lumen Juris, the book A Lei de Anistia de 1979 no Brasil: A Superação dos Óbices Jurídico-Estruturais Para a sua Ressignificação Mediante uma Nova Jurisdição Constitucional (STF) Participativa, drawn from his doctoral dissertation.
Publication details
Title: A Lei de Anistia de 1979 no Brasil: A Superação dos Óbices Jurídico-Estruturais Para a sua Ressignificação Mediante uma Nova Jurisdição Constitucional (STF) Participativa
Author: Filipe Cortes de Menezes
Publisher: Lumen Juris
Year of publication: 2025
ISBN: 9788551933466
Available from: Lumen Juris
Keywords: Amnesty Law, transitional justice, Brazil, Supremo Tribunal Federal, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Araguaia Guerrilla, military dictatorship, human rights, accountability, constitutional adjudication, participatory democracy, redemocratization, authoritarian legacy, Gomes Lund, 1979 amnesty
