Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to launch a national human rights program on Monday.

A key feature of the program will be a “truth commission” to investigate torture, murders and kidnappings committed by the country's security forces between 1964 and 1985.

This marks a rare step for Brazil which, unlike its neighbors Argentina and Chile,  has never convicted anyone for participating in dictatorship-era abuses.

The creation of the investigative body sparked backstage conflicts between Human Rights Minister Paulo Vannuchi and Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who says the victims' relatives are seeking revenge.

Political scientist Glenda Mezarobba authored a book about the amnesty law that was pushed through the Brazilian Congress in 1979.

She says investigating the past will leave the military uncomfortable.

[Glenda Mezarobba, Political Scientist]: (Portuguese, female)
"During the debate surrounding the creation of the truth commission, we noticed a lot of resistance from the military. Even though that (resistance) was not public, we noticed by the Defense Minister's behavior that this is still a very delicate issue for them (military)."

Brazil's still-influential armed forces strongly oppose further investigations or revising the amnesty law.

During the dictatorship, as many as 20,000 people were believed to have been tortured, often through the use of electric shocks and chemicals.

Over 400 Brazilians were murdered or "disappeared."

The husband of 66-year-old Victoria Grabois was among the nearly 70 leftist guerrillas and peasants who went missing in an army crackdown on a rebel movement in the isolated Amazon region of Araguaia.
   
[Victoria Grabois, Victim’s Relative]: (Portuguese, female)
How will the truth commission work if it doesn't have the (official) archives? It (the commission) needs elements (for the investigations), because all the evidence, all that the families know has already been gathered in several reports. There are countless reports, some already in the National Archive."

Grabois is a member of the “Torture Never Again” victims’ group.

Earlier this year, Brazil granted amnesty and reparations to dozens of peasants who were jailed or tortured in Araguaia and who had been considered criminals.

But victims’ groups say the truth commission must have the power to investigate crimes, including the hiding or destroying of archives, to recommend criminal cases against suspects, and to send documents to court.