The first human rights violation of the Brazilian Military Dictatorship, with international repercussions
The nine Chinese victims of the dictatorship
On 13 July 2014, Danillo Santos was honoured in Beijing, China. At a ceremony with a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Brazilian lawyer was honoured with images from his personal collection and those of the nine Chinese deprived of their liberties. These were the protagonists of the book by journalists Ciça Guedes and Murilo Fiuza de Melo, entitled "The Case of the Nine Chinese".
Danillo Santos was a key figure in convincing criminal lawyer Heráclito Sobral Pinto, known for his dedication to defending the rights of political prisoners, to defend the nine Chinese.
Image: Danillo Santos during the National Truth Commission hearing on the case of the nine Chinese Photo: Reproduction / National Truth Commission
As well as regularly visiting the Chinese prisoners, like Danillo Santos, Sobral Pinto defended them in court without charging a fee. Danillo Santos also helped the families of the Chinese prisoners. When the Chinese were expelled from Brazil, Danillo and Sobral Pinto accompanied them to Galeão airport and they were the last people to say goodbye to them, who, according to reports, hugged him with tears in their eyes. In China, the nine men were welcomed as heroes.
In remarkable acts of dedication, Danillo Santos and Sobral Pinto demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the defence of Chinese prisoners in Brazil. In addition to his regular visits to the prisons, Danillo Santos managed to get Sobral Pinto to take up the cause of these prisoners in court, without asking for any remuneration for his services.
Not limiting his work to the courts, Danillo Santos also extended his help to the families of detainees, providing them with support and solidarity in difficult times.
The culmination of this extraordinary humanitarian journey came when the Chinese prisoners were deported from Brazil. Both Danillo Santos and Sobral Pinto were by their side at Galeão International Airport. Witnesses say that both were the last people to say goodbye to the deportees, and touching hugs were exchanged between them, often accompanied by tears in their eyes.
In China, these nine men were received as true heroes, demonstrating the significant impact of the altruistic actions of Danillo Santos and Sobral Pinto in favour of the Chinese prisoners.
It was only in 2014, 50 years after the episode, that the first book dedicated to this intriguing case was published. Written by journalists Ciça Guedes and Murilo Fiuza de Melo, The Case of the Nine Chinese reconstructs this story based on documents, many of them unpublished, newspaper articles, interviews and testimonies.
Preface to the book
In the early hours of 3 April 1964, three days after the military coup, police from the Department of Political and Social Order raided a flat in Rio's Flamengo neighbourhood without a court order and captured a group of foreigners. The torture began right there. Hours later, the political police entered another building, in Catete, and detained more people. By the end of the day, nine Chinese had been arrested, identified as international agents installed in Brazil to spread the communist revolution. But the truth was that they were living legally in the country. Two were journalists, four had come to set up a fair selling products from China and the rest had come to buy cotton. They became victims of the anti-communist paranoia of the time, fuelled by Governor Carlos Lacerda. They were sentenced to ten years in prison for subversion and, after more than a year in custody, were expelled from the country.
Brazil has never apologised or returned the money seized from the group - an amount that today exceeds R$ 800 thousand. In their country, they became national heroes and became known as the "Nine Stars" or "Nine Red Hearts for the Motherland". Brazil and China established diplomatic relations ten years later, in 1974, but the incident was forgotten in secret archives. In The Case of the Nine Chinese, journalists Ciça Guedes and Murilo Fiuza de Melo bring the story of the first international human rights scandal of the Brazilian military dictatorship to light fifty years later. Based on unpublished documents, exclusive interviews, the testimony of one of the survivors and extensive research, the authors reconstruct a remarkable episode in our recent history.
Official measures
It was ten years before diplomatic relations were resumed. On 16 August 1974, the newspaper headlined: "Brazil and China to exchange ambassadors later this year". The following day, O Diário published an article about the new trade agreement signed between the countries. Brazil would be able to export iron ore, soya, cotton and cellulose, while the Asian country would sell non-ferrous minerals, handicrafts, oil and coal. On this day, the then President of the Republic, General Ernesto Geisel, received two porcelain vases from the Chinese mission. The new phase of good relations with China resulted in a political break with Formosa, but without any interference in private business.
In 1997, Mr Ju Qingdong, one of the nine victims, tried to visit Brazil as a tourist and was denied a visa because the presidential decree preventing him from entering the country was still valid.
It was only in December 2014 that the then Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardoso, annulled the decree and also the sentences. Archived in 1965, the case against the Chinese remained forgotten until last year, when João Vicente Goulart, son of former president João Goulart, asked the Supreme Court to annul it.
In 2015, then-president Dilma Rousseff, in reparation for the damage done to the Chinese, admitted them to the Order of the Southern Cross in the rank of officer, a gesture much appreciated by China.
Of the nine Chinese, five were still alive in 2014, when society and the Brazilian government began to move to put an end to this sad episode.
Who were the nine Chinese victims of the dictatorship?
Ju Qingdong - Journalist for the Xinhua news agency;
Wang Weizheng - Journalist for the Xinhua news agency;
Su Ziping - Exhibition organiser;
Hou Fazeng - Exhibition organiser;
Wang Zhi kaj - Exhibition organiser;
Zhang Baosheng - Exhibition organiser;
Wang Yaoting - deputy director of the Chinese Textile Import and Export Company;
Ma Yaozeng - cotton sorter; and
Song Gueibaointerpreter.
Source: National Archives >> Memories Revealed
National Archives
Public Hearing of the Truth Commission of Rio de Janeiro (CEV-RJ)
Live broadcast of the Public Hearing of the Rio de Janeiro Truth Commission (CEV-RJ) on the 1964 arrest of nine Chinese government officials who were part of the "Chinese Trade Mission". The group was falsely accused of espionage and expelled from Brazil. Date: 26/09/2014
Read the transcript of the testimony of Chinese journalist Ju Quingdong of the Xinhua news agency, who was arrested, prosecuted and expelled from the country in the "case of the 9 Chinese":
