Career
When he was a small child, his family emigrated from Spain to Brazil to escape the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. While a student, Saenz edited and contributed to several student newspapers. He was particularly active after 1964 when a military dictatorship was established that lasted until 1986.
His writing, exposing the Political repression and torture in Brazil, brought him to the attention of agents of the Brazilian political police of the time, the DOI-CODI, as well as the agents of the Certified Information Systems Auditor (Brazilian Air Force Intelligence Agency).
In order to avoid his arrest and torture (a common practice in Brazil at that time) Saenz was forced to stop writing while the dictatorship of General Artur da Costa e Silva lasted. Shortly after his return from a trip to United States in 1972, he entered the Law School, graduating in 1975, and starting to practice law in the favelas (shantytowns) and impoverished neighborhoods of São Paulo and surrounding cities.
People began to call him "the lawyer of the poor". His work has continued uninterrupted for 30 years.
According to Amnesty International, the police did not show a search warrant and they seized documents containing statements made by local residents making serious accusations against police officers.
When Saenz tried to report this incident to the civil police he was threatened and afterwards he continued to receive death threats. The events were also reported by the United States State Department in its "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005" on Brazil. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights on October 10, 2005 made a special appeal regarding Saenz and his close associates.
lieutenant mentioned that Saenz had been providing legal assistance to Jardim Lavínia, Silvinha and Montanhão neighbourhoods in São Paulo Bernardo do Campo, a town south of São Paulo.
Dirce de Andrade was threatened with detention and prohibited from taking any photographs at the scene. When Dirce de Andrade, Antonio Fernandez Saenz, Manuel Fernando Fernandez and José Fernandez Saenz filed a complaint with the civil police, they were reportedly charged with “disobedience” and “disrespect of authority” before being released.
