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Massacre in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian police accused of extrajudicial executions: photo, video

The UN Human Rights Office and human rights organizations have sharply criticized a police raid against suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, which killed 25 people. The police are accused of abuse and extrajudicial executions, writes the BBC.

 

Residents of the Jacaresinho district, where the operation took place, say police entered houses without a warrant and killed suspects who wanted to surrender.

The police have denied any wrongdoing. They say the officers acted in self-defense.

Many areas of Rio de Janeiro, one of Brazil’s most violent cities, are under the control of criminals, many of whom are associated with powerful drug trafficking gangs. The security forces are often accused of using disproportionate force during their crime-fighting operations.

The raid in Jacaresinho was attended by about 200 police officers and an armored helicopter with a sniper. It is believed that the area is controlled by one of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil, Comando Vermelho or Red Command.

“There are guys who are cornered in the house and want to surrender. And the police want to kill them. They even killed some in front of our eyes,” one of the residents of Jacaresinho said on the video on the day of the raid.

In another video, a local resident filmed a police officer standing outside his house and said, “They’re driving into a corner [подозреваемых]… They don’t want the guys to give up. ”

Public defender Maria Julia Miranda said, according to local residents, that one of the suspects was killed in the bedroom of an eight-year-old girl, and that the family saw the alleged execution.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, said they also received photo messages from residents saying that police invaded their homes and killed people when they posed no danger.

“It is completely unacceptable that the security forces continue to commit serious human rights abuses, such as those in Jacaresinho, against favela residents who are predominantly black and live in poverty,” Amnesty International Brazil Executive Director Jurem Vernek said in a statement.

The UN Human Rights Office has called for an independent investigation. They called the incident “a long-standing trend of unnecessary and disproportionate” police operations against predominantly poor communities.

Police have not yet identified the murdered suspects, but said six people have been arrested.

Deputy Chief of Police Rodrigo Oliveira justifies the actions of the police. “The only execution was the murder of a police officer,” he said at a press conference.

The raid occurred despite a court order restricting police action in poor areas of Rio during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not comment on the incident. He supports legislative changes that will protect officers from prosecution if suspects are killed. Bolsonaro had previously stated that “a good criminal is a dead criminal.”

Yesterday, May 6, a shootout between police and drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro killed at least 25 people, including a police officer. Police say they started the operation after receiving information that drug traffickers were recruiting children into their gang.

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