Gisberta-Getting away with torture and murder

Gisberta Salce Júnior, a Brazilian transsexual living in extreme social exclusion in the Portuguese city of Oporto, was tortured and anally raped with sticks over a period of three days and then thrown into a pit and left to die in an abandoned construction site.

A group of twelve to fourteen adolescent boys between the age of 12 and 16 admitted to committing this crime. The youths were living in a “minor protection” institution run by the Catholic church. 

Gisberta had been in very poor health. She was HIV Positive, and had tuberculosis. She lived on the streets, and engaged in sex work to earn some money.

This crime was given misleading coverage in the Portuguese media. The judiciary defined it down and the political establishment ignored it. This mistreatment ranged from trying to dehumanise Gisberta. The press refused to publish her photo, by echoing the church hierarchy’s insinuation that she had harassed the boys, by neglecting to mention that she was transsexual and by ignoring the public statements of the LGBT organisations.

Recent developments raise the likelihood that not even the oldest boy , who’s age would allow to be held legally responsible for his actions, will have to face trial for murder. In fact the case is being addressed by justice as a case of simple aggression. In Portugal, everything possible is being done to forget this horrible crime - without consequences, actions or legal changes.

Gisberta Salce Júnior’s accumulation of social exclusion and degradation clearly lays bare the marginalisation of transsexuals in Portugal. Her case is a very clear demonstration of the high level of aggression and transphobic attitudes in Portuguese society.