The German automaker is facing allegations of human-rights violations including torture and killings, at a farm it ran during the country's military dictatorship
German carmaker Volkswagen is currently involved in a court case over charges on violations of human rights. (Image: DAVID HECKER/ AFP)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: German carmaker Volkswagen faces an audience with Brazilian prosecutors Tuesday over allegations of human-rights violations at a farm it ran during Brazil's military dictatorship, including slave labor, rapes and beatings.
Prosecutors have assembled a 90-page dossier they say documents years of atrocities committed by Volkswagen managers and hired guns at a cattle ranch the company owned in the Amazon rainforest basin in the 1970s and 80s.
In the latest attempt to bring justice for abuses committed under Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime, the federal prosecutor's office for labour affairs summoned VW representatives to a hearing in Brasilia to answer for evidence of abuses including torture and killings at the property in the northern state of Para, known as Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino.
"There were grave and systematic violations of human rights, and Volkswagen is directly responsible," lead prosecutor Rafael Garcia told AFP.