Volkswagen to negotiate settlement in Brazil rights case

Volkswagen will negotiate a settlement with Brazilian justice officials for allegedly allowing the torture and detention of employees opposed to Brazil's former military dictatorship, O Estado de Sao Paulo reported Sunday.

The daily cited an email from Volkswagen's Manfred Grieger, who visited Brazil in October and met with justice officials.

"It was the beginning of a discussion on how to reach an agreement on that matter," the email attributed to him and published Sunday said.

"One idea would be to develop a memorial with Brazilian institutions such as unions... We want to look at the pros and cons of the next steps to be taken."

In September, a civil lawsuit was filed in Sao Paulo accusing the German automaker of allowing the torture and detention.

The complaint in Brazil comes amid a global scandal in which the German automaker admitted 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with devices that can cheat air pollution tests.

But in Brazil, the focus is on Volkswagen's activities during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

The complaint says 12 former employees were arrested and tortured in the Volkswagen factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, and dozens of people there were placed on a blacklist.

"They took me in handcuffs to the personnel department and there they started to torture me," Lucio Bellentani, a communist activist and former Volkswagen employee, told AFP in September.