MP-RJ and CNJ investigate case of militiaman who was released by mistake

The Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ) and the National Council of Justice (CNJ) initiated procedures to determine the release of Peterson Luiz de Almeida, leader of the militia called “Bonde do Zinho”, which operates in the west zone of Rio of January. Peterson was ordered into preventive detention, but was released after a notification error.

The militiaman was arrested in August this year and was detained by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice (TJ-RJ) on October 26. However, he was released from Benfica prison last Sunday (29) after a judicial notification error.

According to the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SEAP), there was no record of the conversion of the prison into the warrant center, as the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice had sent the communication to an email that has been deactivated for five years.

Wanted by CNN the justice agency reported that an officer carried out the summons at the prison unit where Peterson was and discovered that he had already been released.

The Public Ministry of Rio reported that it opened a civil investigation last Tuesday (31), and that it will forward “actual news to the Support Center for Investigative Justice Prosecutors for distribution and analysis of possible liability in the criminal aspect”.

Also according to the agency, “initial investigations indicate a failure in the functioning of the National Bank of Arrest Warrants (BNMP) administered by the National Council of Justice (CNJ) regarding the registration of arrest warrants, in addition to restrictions on access to the bank by the agencies of public security in the State of Rio de Janeiro”.

According to the prosecutor’s office, there is no institutional protocol that establishes the forms and flows of communication between justice bodies and the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration.

Without this, according to the MP-RJ, “informal practices end up occurring that generate inconsistencies, legal uncertainty and even space for illicit practices to be investigated, sometimes promoting undue release, sometimes resulting in unjustified retention of people deprived of liberty”.

The National Council of Justice reported that the BNMP “does not carry out document flow and does not exclude the need for formal communication in time for the issuance of an arrest warrant to prison establishments and to the prisoner himself”.

In a note, the agency informed that “it is investigating the circumstances of the release, including compliance with the standards indicated above, and will take any measures that are necessary after clarifying the facts.”