Marcio Rodrigues dos Reis
Marcio Rodrigues dos Reis was a land rights defender who helped reorganise land occupied by landless workers, where he lived, after the camp was attacked and destroyed by armed hitmen. The lands are located at the Santa Maria farm, which is an area of public lands seized by a local agribusiness farmer. As a reprisal for his leadership, Marcio was imprisoned in 2017 for nine months and again in 2018 for five months, under trumped up accusations of carrying a gun without permission and of usurping land (known as ‘esbulho’) made by the agribusiness farmer himself. He was killed on 4 December 2019 after sustaining stab wounds to his neck by an unidentified individual.
The challenges and threats faced by human rights defenders in Brazil remain very high, particularly for those working on issues of land, environment, indigenous peoples, LGBTi rights, corruption and impunity.
