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Article

8 Nov 2016

Author:
BBC (UK)

Brazil: Volkswagen appoints expert to examine if the company allowed arrest & torture of employees during the country’s military dictatorship

“Volkswagen appoints expert to examine Brazil torture claims-Volkswagen (VW) has commissioned an expert to examine if the German carmaker allowed the arrest and torture of employees in Brazil under the country's former military regime”, 3 November 2016

Professor Christopher Kopper of Bielefeld University will research claims VW collaborated with the military government from 1964 to 1985. A group of former employees filed a law suit against the company last year...claim[ing]...they were arrested and tortured at a VW plant in Brazil. VW has previously investigated its own role in the use of slave labour in Nazi Germany during the Second World War...Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, a member of the board at VW...responsible for integrity and legal Affairs...said..."We want to shed light on the dark years of the military dictatorship and explain the behaviour of those responsible at that time in Brazil and, if applicable, Germany." A report by Brazil's national truth commission...highlighted the case of Lucio Bellentani,...former VW employee. He said: "I was at work when two people with machine guns...held my arms behind my back and ...put me in handcuffs. As soon as we arrived in Volkswagen's security centre, the torture began. I was beaten, punched and slapped."...

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