Rio de Janeiro, November 10, 2022 – A Goiás state court docket jury in Brazil on Wednesday convicted and sentenced 4 males in reference to the 2012 homicide of Brazilian sports activities journalist Valério Luiz de Oliveira, based on reports and statements by the court and prosecutor’s office.

After a three-day jury trial, Maurício Borges Sampaio was sentenced to 16 years in jail for masterminding the killing. Found responsible of collaborating in planning and finishing up the crime, the court docket sentenced Ademá Figuerêdo Aguiar Filho to 16 years in jail and Marcus Vinicius Pereira Xavier and Urbano de Carvalho Malta to 14 years. A fifth accused particular person was discovered not responsible.

“The decision by a Goiás jury to convict those responsible for the murder of Valério Luiz de Oliveira is an encouraging sign, although it should not have taken 10 years,” stated Natalie Southwick, CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator. “Murders of Brazilian journalists rarely lead to the convictions of the masterminds, and we are relieved that the Oliveira family’s decade-long quest for justice has not ended in impunity. We hope this sets a new precedent for Brazilian authorities in bringing the killers of journalists to justice.”

Oliveira was shot and killed on July 5, 2012, within the metropolis of Goiânia. In March 2013, the Goiás state public prosecutor charged the 5 males. Since then, multiple appeals from protection attorneys and choices by the Goiás Court of Justice have postponed proceedings, as CPJ documented.  

Brazil was ninth on CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index, which ranks international locations the place journalists are often murdered in retaliation for his or her work and their killers go free.