SAO PAULO, Brazil: Automobile major Volkswagen must pay 165 million reais (around US$30 million) after a Brazilian labor court found the company responsible for forcing farm workers in the Amazon into slave-like conditions during the 1970s and 1980s.

Prosecutors call it the most significant compensation case of its type in Brazil.

The case began in 2019 after a local priest handed over documents he had collected for decades. Following new investigations and witness accounts, prosecutors formally charged Volkswagen in 2024.

The court found that between 1974 and 1986, hundreds of workers faced degrading treatment at a cattle ranch and logging farm in Pará state, owned by Volkswagen through a subsidiary. About 300 men were recruited under irregular contracts to clear the forest and prepare the pastures. They were guarded by armed men, forced to stay on the farm through debt bondage, housed in poor shelters, and given little food. Many contracted malaria but received no medical care.

"These practices were one of the largest cases of slave labor exploitation in Brazil's recent history," the Labor Prosecutor's Office said.

In his ruling, Judge Otavio Bruno da Silva Ferreira said the evidence confirmed Volkswagen owned the farm and that conditions clearly met Brazil's legal definition of slave labor. He wrote that slavery in Brazil is a "present past," noting that its impact still shapes labor relations today. He stressed that remembering this legacy is crucial for addressing inequality and guiding fair judgments.

Volkswagen denied wrongdoing and said it would appeal. The company's Brazilian headquarters stated it has always respected human dignity and labor laws during its 72 years in the country. "Volkswagen reaffirms its unwavering commitment to social responsibility," the company said.

Brazil imported more enslaved Africans than any other nation and was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888.