The three officers have been convicted within the dying of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, a Black man who died in police custody.
Three former members of Brazil’s Federal Freeway Police have been sentenced to prolonged jail phrases for the torture and dying of a Black man held within the boot of their squad automobile.
On Saturday, Justice Rafael Soares, a decide for the seventh Federal Court docket within the Brazilian state of Sergipe, gave one of many officers, Paulo Rodolpho Nascimento, 28 years in jail for the crime of aggravated murder.
Two of his colleagues, William Noia and Kleber Freitas, every obtained 23 years in jail for torture leading to dying.
The sentencing was the end result of a case that started in Could 2022, with the arrest of 38-year-old Genivaldo de Jesus Santos.
The three officers pulled Santos over for driving his bike with no helmet, not removed from the city of Umbauba in Sergipe.
A bystander took a video of the encounter that later went viral. Santos appeared to supply no resistance because the three law enforcement officials pulled him to the bottom and restrained his legs and arms.
The officers, nonetheless, had described Santos as “actively resisting”.
Native media reported that Santos suffered from schizophrenia and was heard yelling to clarify that he was taking treatment. However the officers lifted Santos into the boot of their sport utility car (SUV).
The video captured the officers as they lowered the boot’s door and held it shut whereas clouds of dense, white smoke poured from the automobile. Santos screamed, and his legs might be seen kicking. A witness cried, ”They’re going to kill him!”
Rodolpho was accused of throwing tear gasoline into the boot and serving to to carry the door. He obtained the very best sentence.
Prosecutors, in the meantime, stated Freitas used pepper spray 5 occasions towards Santos, whereas Noia performed a task in conserving the boot door shut whereas the tear gasoline poured out.
An post-mortem later confirmed Santos in the end died of asphyxiation. The three officers have been dismissed from the Federal Freeway Police.
Throughout the course of their 12-day trial, the court docket heard from consultants who described Santos’s remaining moments, spending greater than 11 minutes restrained in an enclosed house surrounded by poisonous gasoline.
Tear gasoline incorporates doubtlessly deadly chemical compounds, significantly when deployed in massive doses or over lengthy durations of time.
All three officers have been convicted. Santos’s sister, Laura de Jesus Santos, welcomed the end result of the sentencing listening to on Saturday.
“It was a passable consequence, though we’re not proud of anybody’s misfortune. It calms us down, but it surely doesn’t convey happiness,” she instructed the information company G1.
Earlier this yr, the United Nations issued a report addressing police violence in Brazil. It discovered that greater than 6,000 individuals per yr have been killed in interactions with Brazil’s legislation enforcement for the final six years. In 2023, the whole was 6,393.
That could be a marked enhance over earlier yearly totals. In 2013, for example, 2,212 individuals have been killed by officers.
Black individuals have been disproportionately represented among the many statistics. Folks of African descent represented almost 83 p.c of the instances, making them 3 times extra prone to be killed by Brazilian police.