Sources
Since the end of 2017, human rights defender Rivelino Zarpellon has been the target of surveillance and threats. Between the end of April and the beginning of May 2018, the homes of several of the defenders’ friends and relatives were visited by unknown men, travelling on motorcycles, who said they were looking for Rivelino Zarpellon. On 10 May 2018, the defender recorded the incessant passage of a suspicious motorcyclist on the street where he lives. Rivelino Zarpellon is a human rights defender and a lawyer of 18 years, he has also been working on the case of the Pau D’Arco Massacre, where 10 rural workers were killed by police officers in May 2017. Front Line Defenders emphasize that these incidents, as well as increased threats against another lawyer working on the case, José Vargas Junior, come at a critical time in the Pau D'arco Massacre’s investigations, as alerted by the Pastoral Commission of the Land of Pará, the Pará Society for the Defense of Human Rights (SDDH) and Terra de Direitos.