Brazilian man spends 28 years of his life legally dead

A 71-year-old Brazilian man from the Tocantins region, based on the testimony of his ex-wife and two witnesses was pronounced dead in 1995 and spent the next 28 years of his life legally dead.

After a two-year-long court battle, Manoel Marciano da Silva on August 16, finally had his death certificate annulled.

For Brazilian authorities, the 71-year-old had been dead and buried in the cemetery of Augustinópolis, in Tocantins, but two years ago, the man found himself in trouble when his pension and free healthcare were cut off, after which he started investigating his ‘death’ and little did he know that his ex-wife along with two witnesses who declared him dead to authorities.

However, it is still not clear why Manoel’s ex-wife declared him dead back in 1995.

In a statement, the Brazilian claimed that he found out about it in 2012, when he attempted to cast his vote in the local election, but he was told that he was not on the list and only appeared as deceased.

In 2012, when he first got to know about his deceased status, he didn’t care too much but his life was affected more significantly as his pension was cut due to which he was unable to make medical appointments.

The old man has to hire a lawyer to challenge his death certificate and obtain a new birth certificate, while during his proceedings, the fingerprints and several witnesses confirmed that he wasn’t actually dead.