October 4, 2021

09:10

Iury Lima – from Cenarium

VILHENA (RO) – Chaules Volban Pozzebon, considered by the Public Ministry of the State of Rondônia (MP-RO) as the ‘biggest logger of Brazil’, will be transferred from the federal penitentiary of Campo Grande, in Mato Grosso do Sul, where he has been serving his sentence since June, to a penitentiary in Rondônia. The decision is from the State Court of Justice (TJ-RO) that, on Thursday, 30, granted habeas corpus, partially complying with a request from the defense of the businessman convicted of conspiracy, extortion, and illegal logging.

Despite having obtained partial habeas corpus for unit transfer, leaving the federal prison sphere to the state one, Pozzebon’s defense request aimed at the substitution of the prison sentence by precautionary measures, such as house arrest, electronic monitoring or prohibition to leave home.

Arrest and sentencing

Chaules Pozzebon was arrested, on October 23, 2019, during the Federal Police’s Operation Deforest, which targeted suspected environmental criminals in Rondônia, Amazonas and São Paulo.

At the time, he was pointed out as a suspect of leading a criminal organization specialized in invading lands of rural communities in Cujubim, 32 kilometers away from Porto Velho, to illegally extract wood through extortion practiced against the real owners of the territories, which was later proved, and the MP also identified the crimes of murder and money laundering. Businessmen, policemen and gunmen were also part of the group, which profited up to R$ 65 thousand per month.

The 592-page sentence convicted, besides the leader of the organization, 15 others involved, among them 11 military police officers that helped to take the properties and charged tolls from the residents of the place known as the Region of the Rubber Soldier.

According to the investigation, the criminals also built a gateway on the “Chaules Road”, as it became popular, and anyone who had a house or business beyond it had to pay a fee ranging from R$50 to R$3,000 to cross it.

Chaules Pozzebon, who owns more than 120 logging companies in the region of the municipality of Ariquemes in Rondônia, has an extensive criminal record. He started working in the logging business in the early 2000s when he arrived in Rondônia after leaving Paraná. In addition to committing environmental crimes, he also carries the title of slave driver, because in 2012, the Public Ministry of Labor rescued 22 workers from one of his farms in Cujubim, where they lived in a situation analogous to slavery.

Today, at age 49, the businessman must serve a prison sentence of 99 years, two months and 23 days. For the defense, the decision is ‘mistaken’.

What the defense says

The lawyers for Chaules Volban Pozzebon manifested themselves one day before the Rondon Court of Appeals issued the decision for the partial habeas corpus. The reaction of Job Ferreira and Aury Lopes Junior was in relation to the new actions taken by the Federal Police, which is investigating people connected to Pozzebon, who are considered to be the alleged go-betweens of the convicted businessman.

The defense manifestation happened through a note, alleging that the Federal Police presented untruths about the case and that “Justice will judge the facts as they happened”. The text also denies that Chaules Pozzebon is the biggest deforester in the country, and that he has committed any crime.

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“Due to these and other unfounded accusations, the businessman’s lawyers come out publicly to repudiate these accusations, which can be easily disproved in a simple search”, the note said.

“Chaules is a businessman who has always guided his business activities within the most absolute legality, and this is how he has always contributed to the progress and development of the state of Rondônia, generating jobs and income for almost 30 years”, claimed another passage.

“We continue to believe that Justice will judge the facts as they really happened, thus, soon his innocence will be proven and his freedom restored”, concluded the defense.