Volkswagen to compensate Brazil dictatorship victims

Volkswagen said Wednesday it had signed a deal with prosecutors to compensate former workers at the company's Brazil unit for rights violations committed during the South American country's military dictatorship.

Former workers and their families sued the German carmaker five years ago, alleging its Brazilian security office had collaborated with the military regime (1964-1985) to identify suspected opponents, who were then detained and tortured.

Under the deal with state and federal prosecutors in Brazil, VW will pay 36 million reais (5.5 million euros, $6.4 million) in compensation, including 16.8 million reais for workers and their families, plus donations to various projects including a memorial for victims of the regime, it said in a statement.

"We regret the violations that occurred in the past. For Volkswagen, it is important to deal responsibly with this negative chapter in Brazil's history and promote transparency," VW executive Hiltrud Werner said in the statement.

An independent review commissioned by the company in 2016 had found that security agents at Volkswagen do Brasil had cooperated with the military regime.

Brazil is still coming to terms with the abuses committed by the regime, which was responsible for the murder or disappearance of at least 434 people, according to the National Truth Commission established to investigate dictatorship-era crimes.

An estimated 20,000 people were tortured.

Current President Jair Bolsonaro, an army captain at the time, is an open admirer of the dictatorship.

The far-right leader has triggered controversy by saying the regime's mistake was torturing rather than killing its opponents, and reinstating commemorations of the 1964 coup that installed it.