Brazil – ABRAPO: Dr. Lenir Correia Coelho 1 Year of Imprisonment: Defending Peasants IS NOT A CRIME!
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement published by the Gabriel Pimenta Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers (ABRAPO) on November 11.
One year ago, on November 12, 2025, the people’s lawyer Lenir Correia Coelho was arrested in Ji-Paraná, Rondônia. Her “crime” was defending poor peasants in agrarian lawsuits and denouncing the violence perpetrated by latifundium and the complicity of the State of Rondônia. A year later, she remains in prison, without a sentence, in a case shrouded in secrecy. ABRAPO is launching this campaign and invites all those who defend democracy to sign it.
Why Is Dr. Lenir in Prison?
Dr. Lenir has been defending peasants for decades, including those in the Tiago Campin dos Santos area in Porto Velho. She has worked on eviction cases, organized solidarity campaigns, and denounced numerous human rights violations against small farmers.
She was arrested during “Operation Godos,” carried out by the Rondônia Public Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecution alleges that she was part of a criminal organization because she kept her clients informed about legal proceedings and sent them news and reports on violence in rural areas, organizing solidarity missions to combat such violations. In other words: she is in jail for doing the work of a People’s Lawyer.
A Year of Violations
- The practice of law treated as a crime. The Constitution guarantees that a lawyer cannot be punished for practicing law (Art. 133).
- One year in prison without a conviction. Pretrial detention has become an early sentence.
- No one is guilty before a final conviction (Art. 5, LVII).
- No concrete evidence. No victim or witness – not even those for the prosecution – has implicated Dr. Lenir in any crime.
- Secret Proceedings. The case is being handled in secret, but the Constitution mandates that proceedings be public (Articles 5, LX, and 93, IX). The secrecy is enforced to protect the alleged victims – that is, the land grabbers of public lands – but, in reality, it is to conceal the prosecution’s farce, hiding from society the clear persecution of people’s lawyers.
- Denied right. A lawyer arrested before conviction has the right to a special detention cell or house arrest (Law No. 8,906/1994, Art. 7, V). This right was not respected.
- Health at risk. Dr. Lenir is diabetic, and organizations denounce the lack of adequate medical treatment in prison.
Crimes in the State of Rondônia: What Dr. Lenir Was Exposing
Dr. Lenir’s arrest is an attempt to silence one of the voices speaking out against violence against peasants in Rondônia.
- Evictions in violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Supreme Court ADPF 828 requires that families be given proper care and alternative housing before any eviction takes place. Even so, the Supreme Court had to intervene twice to protect the families in the Tiago Campin dos Santos Area (Complaints 50,084 in 2021 and 81,238 in 2026).
- Murdered peasant leaders. Reports from organizations document peasants who were executed in 2021 and 2023 in the region. In 2023, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) acknowledged that the authorities in Rondônia were unable to investigate these crimes and referred six cases to the federal courts. For example, Lenir played a decisive role in federalizing the investigation into the murder of Renato Nathan, a peasant leader from the League of the Poor Peasants, who was killed in 2012.
- Goons and military police in the service of the latifundium. Reports show goons acting alongside police officers, threatening and attacking families. They are veritable paramilitary groups organized by latifundium.
The very people who should be punishing land grabbing and murders in rural areas are arresting the lawyer who exposes them.
What We Demand
- Immediate release of Dr. Lenir Correia Coelho.
- End the secrecy surrounding the “Operation Godos” case.
- Respect for the prerogatives of the legal profession and a guarantee of medical care.
- Compliance with the Supreme Federal Court’s decisions protecting peasant families.
- Investigation and punishment of the murders of peasants and those committed by armed groups associated with large landowners.
- An end to the criminalization of public interest legal practice and the peasant movement.
FREEDOM FOR DR. LENIR CORREIA COELHO!
DEFENDING PEASANTS IS NOT A CRIME!
DEFENDING THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS IS NOT A CRIME!
Gabriel Pimenta Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers (ABRAPO)
Sign this petition
ABRAPO invites popular legal collectives, democratic organizations, unions, student movements, and other social movements, as well as legal professionals, democratic leaders, and honest intellectuals, to sign this petition condemning the one-year prison sentence imposed on people’s lawyer Lenir Correia Coelho. To sign, please fill out the form at Google Forms:
https://forms.gle/JLW4G8xBxA98j45w8
Signatories:
Organizations:
1. Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers – Gabriel Pimenta (ABRAPO)
2. Pastoral Land Commission of Rondônia (CPT-RO)
3. Associação dos Pequenos Produtores Rurais Expresso Porto, Assentamento Varões de Deus
(APPREPAVDA)
4. Associação de Ação Popular Integrada Ortifruti da União (AAPIHGU)
5. Academia Brasileira de Letras do Cárcere
6. Liga Operária (Workers’ League)
7. Acesso Cidadania e Direitos Humanos
8. Guarasugwe Collective
9. Committee to Support the Struggle for Land in Rondônia (CALT)
10. Central Directory of Students at UNIR (DCE-UNIR), Flor de Corumbiara administration
11. Grupo de Estudos Remís Carla (GERC-UNIR)
12. Articulação Nacional das Pescadoras
13. Grupo de Ensino, Extensão e Pesquisa Produção do Espaço Urbano nos Brasis
14. The International Anti-imperialist League –Section Brazil (AIL – Brasil)
Individuals:
1. Marilsa Miranda de Souza – Professor
2. Kátia dos Prazeres Morais – ABRAPO
3. Clarissa Machado de Azevedo – Professor at the Faculty of Law of UFG
4. Geovane Stuart Barroso – Student
5. Renato Maciel Silva – Student
6. Isabely Mendes Pereira Ramos – Student
7. Íngridy Coelho Neves – Student
8. João Eduardo Coelho Neves – Student at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR)
9. Sophia Ribeiro Meira Teixeira – Law student
10. Lucas Yuji Nakasone – University student
11. Ivany Correia Coelho – Professor
12. Marília de Nardin Budo – Law professor at UFSC
13. Caue Hara Mendes
14. Gabriela de Souza Dias
15. Taynara Cristina de Melo Gama
16. Tayza de Melo Gama
17. Vitória Alecrim de Mattos
18. Wélley Gomes de Abreu
19. Ailce Margarida Negreiros Alves
20. Aloísio Silva de Almeida
21. Lucas Junqueira
22. Andréia Maceno Mendes
23. Gustavo Almeida de Oliveira – Lawyer
24. Antonio Vinicius Salles Silva
25. Arthur Marques Almeida – Student
26. Roseli Aparecida Consolaro Nabozny – Social worker
27. Deíse Camargo Maito – Professor in the Law program at UEMG
28. Pedro Henrique dos Santos
29. Larissa Correia Bonfá
30. Maria Inês Miguel – Retired nurse
31. Francisca das Chagas Rodrigues Coelho – Retired professor
32. Claudio Imanoel de Almeida Azeredo – Student
33. Claudiomar Bonfá – Lawyer
34. Emerson Pereira de Carvalho – SINTERO
35. Dilma Alves da Silva Schmitt – Professor
36. Chaiane de Paula Vargem – Professor
37. Valentin Ferreira Moraes – Lawyer (OAB/MS)
38. Sandra Maria Guerreiro Saraiva – Lawyer
39. Daniele Antunes Araújo – Teacher in Belo Horizonte’s municipal school system
40. Maria Celia Aparecida da Silva – State public employee
41. Eduardo José da Silva – Professor
42. Geone Marques Coelho – Public employee
43. Girolamo Domenico Treccani
44. Keila Souza Oliveira
45. Bárbara Almeida Duarte
46. Fernando Henrique Ferreira de Freitas – Company representative
47. Eliane Joana Santiago
48. Isabel Batista Alves – Retired social worker
49. Fábio Henrique Chitolina da Rocha – Support Committee for the newspaper A Nova Democracia
50. Adelina Maceno Mendes Correia – Retired professor
51. Matheus Daltoé Assis – Justice and Peace Commission (DF); doctoral student in Law at UnB
52. Marília Bohnen de Barros
53. Aparecida Fátima – Professor
54. Maria das Graças de Araújo – Professor
55. Edilene Mendes Schmidt – Professor
56. Adelsom Maceno Mendes – Farmworker
57. Eliana Leandro da Silva – Nurse
58. Carolina Mello – Rondônia Plural
59. Nilza Reis
60. Cláudia Gil – Professor
61. Ermogenes Jacinto de Souza
62. Milton Pinhate – Administrator
63. Rozana Pereira da Silva
64. Cintia Lammas – Lawyer
65. Aparecido Luís Gonçalves – Professor
66. Neuza Pinheiro Lima – Seamstress
67. Deyvisson Felipe Batista Rocha – Sociologist
68. Maria Luiza Rodrigues de Macedo – Administrator
69. Gabriel David da Silva Tavares
70. João Miguel Ladeia Ribeiro
71. Wender Francisco de Assis – Public-sector employee and land surveyor
72. Simone Gomes da Silva – Rural worker
73. Bárbara Pereira Maciel de Queiroz – Psychologist
74. Ivanildo José dos Santos Oliveira – Public employee
