CHRONOLOGY

1995

March 21
Zaqueu de Oliveira is murdered in Santa Ana plaza in the town of Barroso, Minas Gerais state.

May and April
The police start to investigate. Ballistic tests are made and the court requests a medical report.

April
Oliveira’s family charges before the court that the murder was part of a major conspiracy that included several influential Barroso residents.

May
The judge interviews several witnesses close to Oliveira and his family. They declare they did not like the victim and that reported threats against his life were not true.

December
Oliveira’s family sells its home in Barroso and leaves town.

1998

May 23
Prosecutor Dilma Jane Couto Carneiro Santos asks the judge to forego the jury trial required by Brazilian law in murder cases and to dismiss charges against the accused, José de Souza. She argues that de Souza acted in self-defense.

June
The judge rules for a jury trial. Prosecutor Carneiro Santos is removed from the case and a new prosecutor is named.

1999

April
A three-judge panel from the Third Criminal Circuit of the Justice Tribunal in Belo Horizonte rejects de Souza’s appeal and orders judicial authorities in Barbacena to set the date for a jury trial.