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License to kill? Brazil police verdict sparks storm

Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 12:59 CST

By Carolina Schwartz

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Human rights groups reacted with dismay on Thursday to a Brazilian court's decision to absolve the commander of a police squad that killed more than 100 convicts in a notorious 1992 prison massacre.

The decision to annul the conviction of Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes over the Carandiru prison massacre fed the sense that officials were immune from justice in Brazil, they said.

"This is absurd. Impunity reigns in this country, we cannot believe it," said Rosiana Queiroz, coordinator of the National Human Rights Movement. "People have the impression that the judiciary is distant from society."

Guimaraes commanded the riot police squad that moved into Sao Paulo's Carandiru penitentiary to suppress an uprising by prisoners in October 1992. They killed 111 unarmed inmates, many of whom, according to survivors, had already surrendered and were summarily executed.

He was convicted in June 2001 and sentenced to a total of 632 years in jail after a jury decided he had used excessive force.

But on Wednesday, a special tribunal annulled the sentence after his lawyers argued he was only obeying orders. Guimaraes had been free while his appeal was pending and the case went to a special tribunal because he had been elected to a seat in the Sao Paulo state assembly.

The case had gained international notoriety, helped by the acclaimed 2003 film "Carandiru" directed by Hector Babenco.

LICENSE TO KILL?

It was seen as a key test of the judiciary's willingness to punish police and security officials for abuses.

Brazil's police forces have a reputation for brutality, especially in their dealings with the poor people who live in shantytowns of big cities. Extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals are frequent.

Human rights groups and the United Nations have criticized authorities for doing little to punish police officers, including in several other high-profile cases, and have called for reforms of the police and judicial system.

"We are very worried because this sets a precedent," said Edisio Souto, president of the Brazilian Lawyers National Human Rights Commission. "I'm frightened ... are we going to license state agents to kill?"

Tim Cahill, Brazil researcher with Amnesty International in London, said no one had been held responsible for the bloodshed. He said neither the state governor at the time, Luis Antonio Fleury Filho, nor the public security minister, Pedro Franco Campos, had been investigated.

"Impunity in the Carandiru massacre was created right from the start," said Sandra Carvalho, director of Global Justice.

The tribunal's decision showed that no progress had been in bringing police actions in Brazil under control, she said.

The next move is for prosecutors to decide if they will appeal the decision. Queiroz said the United Nations and Organization of American States (OAS) should pressure the government.

Guimaraes, 62, celebrated his victory at a party with comrades in a police barracks in Sao Paulo.

"I knew that justice would be done," he was quoted as saying in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. "I'm sorry about the deaths but the police were only reacting."

Carandiru prison was demolished in 2002 and no one else is serving a prison sentence for the crime.

The head of the prison at the time of the massacre, Jose Ismael Pedrosa, was killed in a road ambush in Sao Paulo state last October. Police said he had many enemies because of his harsh rule as a prison director.

Source: REUTERS

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