Press Release November 26, 2023
This week, Brazilian asbestos victims are demonstrating in Brasilia over the postponement by the Supreme Court (STF) of a decision which could have shut down operations at the country’s Cana Brava asbestos mine, the only mine still producing asbestos in Brazil. The long-awaited verdict had been scheduled to be handed down in early November; it never came. Asbestos victims, their families and supporters, campaigners and others were dumb-founded by the judicial mystery. Asked for his interpretation of this development, Lawyer Leonardo Amarante, who has been representing members of the Brazilian Association of the Asbestos-Exposed (ABREA) for many years, said:
“As in many other countries, our Supreme Court can sometimes move at a glacial pace. Nevertheless, it is most unusual for the Court’s timetable to be altered at the last minute and without any explanation. The case pending was relatively simple with the unconstitutional nature of a state law in contravention of a STF ruling having already been decided. The Ministers – as STF Judges are called – were asked to determine whether mining should cease immediately or whether a one-year phase-out period should be allowed. The information vacuum which currently exists regarding this litigation is something I have never seen before.”
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