In 1974, José Celso Martinez Corrêa was arrested by the military dictatorship and taken to the DOPS—the Department for Political and Social Order—where he was brutally tortured and put into prison. Thirty years later, the theater director filed a requirement for official pardon and compensation with the Amnesty Commission. This commission had been created by law 10.559 of 2002, an addition to the infamous law 6.683 of 1979, which granted general amnesty to all who committed political crimes under the dictatorship, both in the military and in the resistance.

In 2010, the Amnesty Commission held it's 35th public session at Teatro Oficina, to read and vote on Zé Celso's requirement. The official theatricality of the law was combined with O Banquete, a play by the group, and the audience was received by a Serbian-Croatian song, followed by the washing of their feet by the cast in character. The rapporteur for the case was attorney and actor Prudente José Silveira Mello, who read the report in a suit and barefoot, on the set of the play.

Related Materials:

"The end of all tortures in Brazil," open letter by Zé Celso (POR)
"Political amnesty for Zé Celso," blog post announcing the event (POR)
"Amnesty for Zé Celso," article in the Estado de São Paulo 04/07/2010 (POR)
"How the Amnesty Session for Zé Celso went," blog post (POR)

Zé Celso's speech in the Amnesty Session 1/4, youtube video (POR)
Zé Celso's speech in the Amnesty Session 2/4, youtube video (POR)
Zé Celso's speech in the Amnesty Session 3/4, youtube video (POR)
Zé Celso's speech in the Amnesty Session 4/4, youtube video (POR)
Amnesty Commission Council votes, youtube video (POR)