Missionary couple is denounced by the MP for irregular occupation in an environmental reserve The Public Ministry of Amazonas denounced the missionary couple Beatriz and Robert Ritzentahler for environmental crime, as well as a former community leader from Novo Airão. The couple, linked to an evangelical church in the United States, refuses to leave an environmental reserve where they have built luxurious buildings. The Amazonas Civil Police had already requested their arrest. They were denounced for not accepting the agreement suggested by the prosecutor who analyzed the police investigation into the deforestation of an area of ??more than four thousand square meters in one of the nineteen communities located in the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, in the municipality of Novo Airão. "If they accepted the agreement, this entire procedure would end there," explained prosecutor João Guimarães Netto. ? Join the g1 AM channel on WhatsApp For Beatriz and Robert Ritzentahler, the proposal was to lose the two properties they built irregularly in favor of the Santo Antônio community. For the former president of the residents' association Edilson Martins Pinheiro, the proposal was that he pay a basic food basket worth one minimum wage to some entity or provide community services for sixteen months. When they refused, the prosecutor indicted the three. "They devastated an area, carried out irregular construction. Do you understand? So, this is an environmental crime. As an environmental crime, they have to be punished in accordance with the law", stated the prosecutor. Beatriz is Brazilian and Robert came from the United States. The Adventist couple arrived in the community eleven years ago. Promising benefits to those who live here, they managed to convince the community to donate the land to the NGO created by the two. A donation term was signed by Edilson, the residents' representative at the time, but the document would not have legal validity. Missionary couple Beatriz and Robert Ritzentahler Reproduction/Rede Amazônica "Our interpretation, that of the State Attorney General's Office, is that it is not (valid)," said the head of the Amazonas Environmental Attorney's Office, José Gebran Batoki Chad. "A simple assembly of a community does not have the legal power to be held in this sense", endorsed delegate Guilherme Antoniazzi. In the community, only the NGO's irregular buildings have fences and crossing them has become risky. Residents also accused the couple of using images of some of them on the internet, without authorization, to ask for donations abroad. This money would not be benefiting those who live here. They also said that Beatriz and Robert charged money from people interested in participating in missions in the interior of Amazonas, mainly foreign tourists. The two even sued the community, because the residents wanted to discuss, in assembly, the cancellation of the supposed donation of the land. Claiming that Brazil is not a land without law and that here you cannot usurp what belongs to third parties, the couple asked the Court to force the issue to be removed from the community assembly's agenda. They even achieved this with an injunction, which ended up being overturned. As a result, the majority of residents finally voted for the missionaries to leave the community, in an assembly that took place almost a year ago. But despite this, the couple insists on not leaving the community. In addition to the process that could lead them to prison, the missionaries could also lose the houses they built in the environmental reserve, and also have to pay compensation of R$5 million for collective moral damages. These are the sentences requested by the State Attorney General's Office, in a lawsuit filed at the end of last year, which is still awaiting a court decision. In this case, the former community leader accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office is not a defendant. "Edilson is, as a traditional community, in a vulnerable situation", said the prosecutor. He was induced into this error situation based on false promises that were not fulfilled", said the prosecutor. For now, judge Juliana Arraes Mousinho has only prohibited new construction and works on the site, and that the couple does not impede the passage or restrict the community's access to the common areas of RDS do Rio Negro, under penalty of a fine of R$5,000 per day if they fail to comply with the order. She remains to put the hammer down on the future of the properties and the compensation. "We wait and longs for a good conclusion. A positive conclusion in socio-environmental terms." Former community leader Edilson Martins Pinheiro told Rede Amazônica that he did not commit an environmental crime and denies having colluded in any irregularity. According to him, the complaint is motivated by alleged personal feuds, and the defense is already adopting the appropriate measures. Rede Amazônica questioned the missionary couple, but received no response until the publication of this report. Couple built luxury house in an environmental reserve after obtaining a donation of land from a community leader. Vinicius Assis/Amazon Network