Federative Republic of Brazil
Head of state and government: Fernando Henríque Cardoso
Capital: Brasília
Population: 172.6 million
Official language: Portuguese
Death penalty: abolitionist for ordinary crimes
2001 treaty ratifications/signatures: Optional Protocol to the UN Women's Convention
The use of torture and ill-treatment remained widespread and systematic throughout the criminal justice system, at point of arrest, in police stations and prisons as well as in juvenile detention centres. In several states, large-scale rioting occurred in prisons and juvenile detention centres, primarily as a result of chronic problems in the penal system and cruel, inhuman or degrading prison conditions. Police officers and "death squads" linked to the security forces were responsible for numerous killings of civilians, including children, in circumstances suggesting that they were extrajudicial executions. Land reform activists, environmentalists and indigenous peoples in rural areas were killed or assaulted by military police or gunmen hired by local landowners. Human rights defenders continued to be threatened and attacked. Important trials of human rights violators took place. However, most of those responsible for human rights abuses continued to benefit from impunity.
Background
Urban crime continued to be a serious problem throughout the country. Violence, often drug-related, claimed large numbers of victims especially in the major cities. There was widespread public pressure for more repressive policing. Strikes by police in several states demonstrated high levels of discontent over pay and conditions.
Major corruption scandals were widely reported in the press. Investigations into corruption and malpractice led to the resignation of three senators, including the current and former Presidents of the Senate. Throughout the country individuals who investigated or denounced official corruption were reportedly threatened and attacked.
Torture and ill-treatment
The use of torture and ill-treatment by members of the civil and military police, prison guards and members of the armed forces continued. It was used to extract confessions, to humiliate and control detainees and, increasingly, to extort money. The number of police investigations of torture allegations rose, but convictions under the 1997 Torture Law remained low.
In April the UN Special Rapporteur on torture described torture and ill-treatment as "widespread and systematic" in a report to the UN Commission on Human Rights of his visit to Brazil in August and September 2000. The report cited 348 cases of torture, and highlighted the failures in the criminal justice system which allowed impunity for perpetrators of torture. In May the government submitted its initial report to the UN Committee against Torture, 10 years after it was due. The Committee recognized the report as frank and transparent but criticized the extent of torture and the failure of the authorities to punish those responsible.
The federal government launched a publicity campaign against torture in October and launched a national free-phone service, operated by a non-governmental organization (NGO), to receive anonymous reports of torture. The 518 reported cases of torture received in the first month included torture by the civil and military police and members of the public prosecution service. The government also announced the setting-up of a national commission to investigate torture allegations and make recommendations on steps to end torture and impunity. While this campaign was recognized as an important first step, many NGOs, including AI, feared that it did not go far enough towards implementing the UN recommendations and ensuring the implementation of the necessary reforms to end the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for acts of torture.
- In September, 17 detainees were allegedly tortured at the "Belem 2" Centro de Detenção Provisorio (pre-trial detention centre) in São Paulo by guards who accused them of planning an escape attempt. They were reportedly hooded for three consecutive nights, taken from their cells and beaten for periods of up to 45 minutes each, and given minimal medical attention for their injuries. The Prisons Administration Secretariat informed AI that initial forensic examinations could not substantiate these claims, although detainees stated that the examinations had been cursory.
- In October Francisco das Chagas Gomes de Sousa, 26 years old, was illegally detained at the 10th Police Station in Teresina, in the state of Piauí, by members of the civil police. He was released five days later with extensive bruising and cuts, a dislocated knee and coughing blood, allegedly as a result of torture by named police officers. He died the next day in hospital. Members of the federal police subsequently found torture instruments at the police station, ascertained that most of the 800 people held there in the previous year had been arbitrarily detained without notification to the judicial authorities, and received many accounts of torture and extortion by civil police officers. Their report was sent to the federal public prosecution service.
Prisoners in police stations, pre-trial detention centres, prisons and juvenile detention centres, continued to suffer from cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions. Severe overcrowding, illegal detention of convicted prisoners in pre-trial facilities, poor sanitary and health provisions, under-trained and poorly paid staff, coupled with the existence of powerful prison gangs, often led to violent confrontations and riots. State authorities in more than 10 states, usually assisted by military police "shock troops", quelled riots in prisons, police stations and juvenile detention centres. The worst took place in São Paulo in February, when coordinated riots broke out in 29 detention centres throughout the state, and 16 detainees were killed, the majority by other inmates.
There were many reported deaths in custody resulting either from excessive use of force by guards and police officers, lack of medical care or violence between detainees. Attempts to resolve prison problems, such as the project to build more manageable prisons in São Paulo, were hampered by, among other problems, the judiciary's increased use of prison sentences for minor offences. In a state which already held over 40 per cent of the national prison population, 800 extra detainees a month had to be absorbed by the system.
- In October AI delegates visited two police stations in Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, which lacked medical and sanitation facilities and where extreme overcrowding of police cells was caused by the illegal detention of convicted prisoners. In the Drugs and Narcotics Police Station, overcrowding had reached 1,000 per cent, with 280 detainees – 80 per cent of them convicted prisoners – held in a space designed for 28. Detainees there were held in small, dark cells and allowed out for one hour every two weeks; some were forced to use disposable plates as toilet facilities. Detainees in both police stations reported being tortured. Those in the Robbery and Theft Police Station reported that guards had used electric shocks, fired guns into their cells, hosed them with cold water as well as other forms of torture.
- In October heavily armed members of the military police entered the Complexo Penitenciário do Estado do Amapá, the Amapá state penitentiary, in Macapá and reportedly shot a prisoner in the head. The prisoner was awaiting trial on charges of attacking a military police officer. The police officer allegedly responsible said that he had fired in self-defence. According to reports, witnesses saw the prisoner being ordered to kneel before he was shot, but were prevented from approaching or informing the prison director the next day by military police officers who reportedly fired at and injured two detainees and beat and kicked two others.
Members of both military and civil police continued to be responsible for numerous deaths, often in situations which indicated excessive use of force or extrajudicial execution. In São Paulo, the police ombudsman's office received reports of 481 police killings, the majority by military police, over the whole year. This was considerably higher than the 364 reported in 2000. "Death squads" continued to act with impunity in many states, with the participation or collusion of the police. In the state of Bahia, the State Human Rights Commission reported that "death squads" largely made up of off-duty military and civil police had killed 159 people in the city of Salvador in the first seven months of the year. In several states, human rights defenders, as well as politicians, journalists and environmentalists, were victims of death threats or extrajudicial executions, often after they had been investigating or denouncing official corruption.
- On 7 January Luís Gustavo Romano's father reported him missing to the police. He had heard rumours that his son and Paulo Bezerra dos Santos, both 16 years old, had been involved in a shoot-out with members of the military police in Jabaquara in the city of São Paulo. According to witnesses, the two youths were beaten and arrested on the street before being driven off in a police car. On 8 January the body of Luís Gustavo was found at a crossroads and that of Paulo dos Santos in a wood. According to reports both youths had been shot and at least one of the bodies showed signs of a beating. Police later stated that they had been caught attempting to steal a car and were killed in an exchange of gunfire. A number of military police officers were arrested, accused of killing the youths.
Land activists suffered harassment and attacks at the hands of military police carrying out evictions. The Pastoral Land Commission reported that by September at least 73 land activists had received death threats and 25 had been killed by hired gunmen, often acting with the apparent acquiescence of the police and local authorities.
In the south of Pará state, which continued to be a focus of extreme land-related violence, slave labour and impunity, at least nine land activists were killed. Following a visit to the region, members of the Federal Commission of Human Rights reported that private security firms were openly offering their services as hired killers.
- On 9 July José Pinheiro Lima was killed, with his wife and 15-year-old son, by two gunmen in their house near the town of Marabá, in the south of Pará. He was a leading member of the rural workers trade union in Marabá which had been acting for 120 families whose legal right to unfarmed land was being contested by a local landowner. Two men suspected of ordering the killings were detained but were released after a few days. One of the men suspected of carrying out the killings was arrested but escaped from police custody in December. Police investigations had made no further progress by the end of 2001.
- Caught in an ambush, Xucuru chief Francisco de Assis Santana, also known as Chico Quelé, was killed on 23 April. He was shot twice with a 12-bore shotgun, in Pesquerira, Pernambuco state. Chico Quelé was on his way to meet members of FUNAI (the governmentindigenous office) to discuss the indemnity payments to be made to local landowners whose land was to be demarcated as indigenous land. The Federal Police have stated that they were investigating the possibility of internal conflicts among the Xucuru as the main motives for the killings. However, according to information received by AI, there are strong indications that a local landowner may have been responsible for ordering the killing. The landowner is also suspected of having ordered the killing of Francisco de Assis Araújo, known as Chicão Xucuru, in May 1998.
The slow pace of Brazilian justice has allowed many human rights abusers to go unpunished. However, under sustained pressure from human rights activists, some long-standing cases came to trial.
Carandiru
In June Colonel Ubiratan Guimarães, a former high-ranking military police officer, was convicted on charges in connection with the massacre of 111 detainees in the Carandiru detention centre following a riot in 1992. In a historic decision, the jury found him to be responsible for São Paulo's military police "shock troops" and that the troops entered the prison with the prior intention of committing as much harm as possible. He was sentenced to 632 years' imprisonment, but was released pending hearing of his appeal. A further 105 military policemen were awaiting trial for their part in the massacre at the end of 2001. The São Paulo authorities later announced their intention to close Carandiru prison by early 2002.
Ticuna
In May, 13 men were convicted of ordering or carrying out an attack on around 100 Ticuna Indians at Capacete Creek in the state of Amazonas in 1988, in which 14 people died, including six children. They were sentenced to between 15 and 25 years' imprisonment. A number of the accused were tried in their absence. These were the first convictions for genocide handed down by a court in the state of Amazonas.
Eldorado dos Carajás
In June the retrial of 153 military police officers charged with aggravated homicide was again postponed. They were charged with killing 19 land activists protesting on a road in the south of Pará state in 1996. New forensic evidence produced by the prosecution was not accepted by the court and further tests were carried out by court-appointed specialists. Members of the prosecution team complained that the judge did not give sufficient grounds for rejecting the evidence and testimony of their specialist, and appealed against the decision. A date for the retrial had not been set by the end of 2001.
AI country reports/visits
Reports
- Brazil: Commentary on Brazil's first report to the United Nations Committee against Torture (AI Index: AMR 19/016/2001)
- Brazil: "They Treat Us Like Animals", Torture and ill-treatment in Brazil: Dehumanization and impunity within the criminal justice system (AI Index: AMR 19/022/2001)
- Brazil: "People End Up Dying Here" – Torture and ill-treatment in Brazil: Summary report (AI Index: AMR 19/027/2001)
- Brazil: "They Treat Us Like Animals" – Appeals Cases: Torture in Brazil (AI Index: AMR 19/024/2001)
AI delegates attended the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva in May, and visited Brazil and launched a report on torture in October.
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