Brazilian Sentenced to Death for Drug Trafficking Is Executed in Indonesia

01/19/2015 - 10h17

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, a Rio de Janeiro natural, was executed by Indonesia's firing squad this Saturday (17), at 3:30 pm - Brasília time.

The news was confirmed by attorney general office's spokesman Tony Spontana. Moreira was executed on Sunday (18) at 12:30 am - Indonesia time- inside the Nusakambangan prison complex, in Cilacap, located at 400 km from the capital Jakarta.

The death was officially confirmed at 12:45 am Indonesia time (3:45 pm Brasília). The formal identification of the body was done around 6:30 pm (Brasília time) and the body was cremated.

Marco was the first Brazilian citizen in history executed by death penalty in peacetime.

He had been arrested in 2003 and convicted in 2004 for drug trafficking. Apart from Moreira, other five people were executed for the same reason.

On the eve of the execution, the Brazilian was visited by his aunt Maria de Lourdes Archer Pinto, 61, and two Brazilian Embassy staff in Jakarta.

Moreira's aunt gave him milk and honey. She had cried a lot since early morning, touched by her nephew's execution.

"Marco does not deserve it." He also cried when they said goodbye and "kissed me a lot", said Pinto.

Twelve policemen of a special unit stood before Marco and at the platoon leader's orders, they shot. Not all the guns were loaded - the shooters did not know which weapons were loaded, so no one knows who fired the fatal shot.

Marco's ashes will be taken to Brazil, after the cremation ceremony. His aunt will pay for the costs; the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty) cannot pay for repatriation expenses.

A video shows the Cardoso family leaving jail after visiting Moreira for the last time. The images were made by a local television and reported by AP News Agency.

Translated by JULIANA CALDERARI

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	Beawiharta/Reuters
	Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, a Rio de Janeiro natural, was executed by Indonesia's firing squad this Saturday (17)