Brazil judge gives 3 former officers long sentences for killing of Black man in trunk

By ELÉONORE HUGHES
Updated 10:55 AM CST, December 7, 2024

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A judge on Saturday handed down long sentences to three former of Brazil’s Federal Highway Police over the 2022 death a Black man who was killed by asphyxiation inside an SUV’s smoke-filled trunk.

Video of officers forcibly keeping Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, in the back of their police vehicle as a dense cloud of what appeared to be tear gas emerged from the car sparked outrage across Brazil and protests in Umbauba, in the northeastern state of Sergipe.

Police had said the man displayed aggressive behavior and was “actively resisting” the officers who pulled him over. They said agents immobilized him then used “instruments of lesser offensive potential” to contain him. The man could be heard screaming and local media later reported that the victim had tried to explain that he was taking medication for psychiatric disorders.

Jurors found the officers guilty of torturing and killing the man at the end of a 12-day trial. Justice Rafael Soares sentenced Paulo Rodolpho Lima Nascimento to 28 years in prison for homicide, according to a statement from the 5th Federal Regional Court.

More:
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-police-violence-jury-7120def524e6eb6bbeb5752d4ce89649






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Opinion:

George Floyd, Genivaldo de Jesus e a punição de policiais

Jun.8.2022 7:00PM

George Floyd, Genivaldo de Jesus and the Punishment for Police Officers
In both your country and mine the police seem to be especially brutal towards people of African descent

Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
The news about Genivaldo de Jesus Santos reached TV worldwide. Likewise you saw on Brazilian TV in 2020 the video showing George Floyd, another black man, being murdered by a white Minneapolis policeman.

We get the news about other countries through a tiny peep hole. It’s directed at the most obvious cliches about the country, such as the US lunacy in the Republican Party, or Cariocas and Paulistanos dancing wildly at carnival.

The cliches are crude, but not always misleading. The Republican Party has indeed gone completely, certifiably crazy. Last week a Republican candidate for Congress from New York state was driven out of the election when he suggested that he might consider voting to ban AK47s from being purchased by teenagers.

And in both your country and mine the police seem to be especially brutal towards people of African descent. Maybe not, says my conservative brother. Could be.

The police anyway are authorized to use coercion on us, sometimes brutal, and they must be so authorized. We do need protection, even brutality, against the bad guys. As the framer of the US constitution, James Madison, noted, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." The German sociologist Max Weber summarized a century ago the very definition of government, as "a monopoly of coercion in a certain territory."

But then we need to watch the monopolist of coercion. The innovation nowadays is that we can watch from cell phones. Otherwise neither Floyd nor de Jesus Santos would be known. The police, like all of us, are skilled at concealing knowledge of their sins. Minneapolis delayed bringing charges against the policeman who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The conviction for murder would not have happened without the video.

But wait. Do we want our police constrained solely by the threat of being videoed and then prosecuted?

No. We want them to be ethical and professional, internally. Punishment does not suffice for a civilization. The police, like all of us, need virtues learned at mothers’ knees, not just being watched. Madison knew that, too. His constitution is now under threat in the US because ethics and professionalism has been set aside, and not just by the police.

In Brazil too?

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Union Is Ordered to Pay $ 202,000 to Genivaldo's Son, Killed in Federal Highway Police Operation
It will also have to pay a monthly pension worth 2/3 of the current minimum wage until the son turns 24

Sep.13.2023 11:20AM

Constança Rezende
Raquel Lopes

Brasília
The 7th Federal Court of Sergipe ordered this Tuesday (12), that the Union pay R$ 1 million ($ 202,000) in compensation for moral damages to the son of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, who died in May 2022, in an approach by PRF ( Federal Highway Police) agents in Umbaúba, Sergipe. In addition, the union will also have to pay a monthly pension worth two-thirds of the minimum wage until he turns 24.

People attend a protest with a banner reading “Stop police violence. Justice for Genivaldo. Enough of massacre. Stop killing us” in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 1 2022, in honour of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, who suffocated to death on May 25 after being placed inside a police car trunk from which thick smoke was billowing in the northeastern town of Umbauba. - The Federal Highway Police (PRF) said in a statement that its agents had used immobilisation techniques and instruments of low-offensive potential in dealing with the 38-year-old who they said became aggressive during a routine stop. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP) - AFP
According to the AGU (Attorney General's Office), it was not possible to reach an agreement with the victim's son during the lawsuit. The organ will evaluate the possibility of filing an appeal.

However, an agreement was signed with Maria Vicente de Jesus, Genivaldo's mother, for R$405,000 to be paid, due to the acts of police violence that resulted in his death. Of the total, R$400,000 refers to compensation for moral damage and another R$5,000 relates to material damage resulting from the costs of Genivaldo's burial.

The agreement was reached in the lawsuit that was originally filed by Genivaldo's ex-partner, Maria Fabiana dos Santos, and her son, to collect compensation of R$100 million for the episode. Maria Vicente joined the lawsuit later.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2023/09/union-is-ordered-to-pay-201954-to-genivaldos-son-killed-in-federal-highway-police-operation.shtml