De Clarinha Glock

São Paulo (March 6, 2008).- Public prosecutors from the Regional Special Action Group for the Prevention of Organized Crime (GAERCO) in Campinas filed charges against five persons suspected of taking part in the murder of journalist Luis Carlos Barbon Filho on May 5, 2007 in Porto Ferreiera. Carlos Alberto da Costa and military police officers Valnei Bertoni, Paulo César Ronceiro, Edson Luiz Ronceiro and Adélcio Carlos Avelino were accused of the crimes of conspiracy and forming a gang to commit the aggravated homicide of Barbon Filho without possibility of self-defense. The five were also charged with the attempted homicide of Alcides Marcilio Prata Catarino, who was wounded by one of the shots fired at Barbon Filho.

The charges were filed on March 3, 2008 by public prosecutors Gaspar Pereira da Silva Júnior, Amauri Silveira Filho, Luiz Alberto Segalia Bevilacqua and André Luiz Brandão of the GAERCO in Campinas. Costa was already in custody. GAERCO called for the temporary detention of the four military police officers pending trial and they were transferred on March 4 to the Romão Gomes Militarh Police Penitentiary in São Paulo. With legal proceedings put under way, there now begins the stage of hearing the testimony of defense and prosecution witnesses for the courts to decide whether the accused should be indicted and put on trial by jury.

The public prosecutors acted under terms of preliminary police hearing document No. 08/2007. In this the police determined that Barbon Filho was in the Das Araras Bar in the Jardim Primavera district when at around 9:00 p.m. Military Police Sergeant Valnei Bertoni shot at the journalist using a caliber-12 pistol. The weapon was identified as belonging to Adelcio Carlos Avelino – accused of being the mastermind of the crime. Paulo César Ronceiro was said to be the one who drive the motorcycle used to arrive at and leave the scene. Allegedly Military Police Sergeant Edson Luiz Ronceiro had hidden the weapon and helped the killers flee.

At that time Avelino was serving as a first lieutenant in the Military Police and commanded its 4th Company in Porto Ferreira. All the sergeants charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office were serving as his subordinates in the same company. Shortly before he died Barbon Filho exposed unlawful actions by military police officers from that company against the owner of the Das Araras Bar, a fact that led to an investigation into their behavior.

The preliminary police hearing document recalls that Barbon Filho despite not having a journalism degree worked in that profession and got by financially by acting as an intermediary in the sale of advertising between local businesses and news media outlets. His work as a reporter earned him both admirers and enemies. The investigations also confirmed that the weapon used to kill Barbon Filho was the same one used in another attempted murder in Porto Ferreira.