Military Police Acquitted in Brazil

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, BRAZIL—On September 27, a court in Brazil acquitted 74 police officers in the massacre of 111 prisoners during the prison riot of 1992 in Carandiru Jail located in Sao Paulo. Two members of the court of appeals ruled there was insufficient evidence against the officers but affirmed excess force had been committed. One member of the court declared the officers not guilty.

Inmates within their Carandirú prison cells. (Photo Courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

The trials took place in 2013 and 2014, more than twenty years after the riot took place. The officers were convicted of executing the prisoners and received sentences ranging from 48 to 624 years in prison. None of the officers convicted served their sentence. One of the commanders, Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes, was sentenced to 624 years in prison in 2001 but was acquitted on appeal in 2006. The defense on appeal argued that the police officers fought back during the violent uprising as self-defense. The prosecutors presented evidence showing the police officers shot prisoners and later destroyed evidence making it difficult to determine who was responsible for the killings.

The massacre took place on October 2, 1992 when a riot broke out in the over crowded Carandiru Jail. The police sought to negotiate with the prisoners but a few hours later, in riot gear, stormed into Wing Nine of the prison and began to shoot the prisoners. According to Human Rights Watch, some of the inmates killed were found naked, on their knees, and with their hands up. Many present during the riot claimed that they were forced to remove bodies and alter the crime scene. Amnesty International Director of Brazil, Atila Roque, stated that, “the fact that 111 prisoners can be killed without anybody being held responsible after 24 years is not only shocking, but sends a terrifying message about the state of human rights in Brazil.

Prosecutors will appeal decision.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International—Brazil Declares Trial on Carandiru Massacres Null in Shocking Blow for Justice—28 September 2016.

BBC—Appeal Begins in Brazil Against Acquittal—29 September 2016.

Human Rights Watch—A Major Setback for Justice in Brazil—28 September 2016.

International Business Times—Relatives of Prisoner who Died in 1992 Brazilian Jail Riot Start Appealing After Court Acquits 74 Police Officers –29 September 2016.

Syrian Network for Human Rights: 1176 Civilians Killed in September 2016
I. Introduction
The report includes only the death toll of civilians that were killed by the main six influential parties in Syria:
– Government forces (Army, Security, local militias, Shiite foreign militias)
– Russian forces
– Self-management forces (consisting primarily of the Democratic Union Party forces, a branch for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party)
– Extremist Islamic groups
– Armed opposition factions
– International coalition forces
– Unidentified groups
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Syrian Network for Human Rights: Detailed Account of Most Notable Violations of Human Rights by Russian Forces in One Year
I. Introduction
Russia announced that its land, sea, and air forces will be entering the Syrian conflict to support the ruling regime in Syria on 30 September 2015. Consequently, we, at SNHR, began to monitor the violations perpetrated by these forces separately from the other parties to the conflict, and with the end of the first year of the Russian intervention, we published 22 reports that documented most of the incidents and violations by Russian forces where we continuously documented the violations over the course of the past year.
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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Aleppo

Atrocity Alert, No.  24

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Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

Aleppo, Syria

Following the collapse of the cessation of hostilities in Syria early last week, on 22 September the government launched a renewed offensive against rebel-held east Aleppo. For the past six days Russian and Syrian aircraft have conducted sustained and indiscriminate airstrikes, including with illegal barrel bombs, cluster munitions and the first documented use of “bunker-buster” bombs in Syria. More than 200 people, including 96 children, have reportedly been killed by these airstrikes. On Tuesday, 27 September, the government escalated their campaign with an unprecedented ground assault on eastern Aleppo.

Airstrikes have severely inhibited relief efforts for the more than 250,000 people who remain trapped in Aleppo. Since 22 September three Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmet) humanitarian rescue centers in east Aleppo have been destroyed and earlier today, 28 September, two of the largest hospitals in east Aleppo were hit by airstrikes. The World Health Organization estimates that only 35 doctors remain inside east Aleppo and that the 25 remaining health facilities are “on the verge of complete destruction.”

On 25 September France, United Kingdom and United States called an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the situation, during which the Ambassadors of France and the United Kingdom accused Russia and the Syrian government of committing war crimes in Aleppo. The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, declared that in his 46 years at the UN, he had “never seen anything to match the horrors” of Aleppo. The Ambassadors of France, United Kingdom and United States walked out of the meeting during remarks by the Syrian Ambassador.

The renewed assault on east Aleppo represents a deliberate campaign to obliterate the rebel-held part of the city. Indiscriminate bombing, the targeting of humanitarian workers and intentional starvation of civilians all constitute war crimes.

Aleppo is not the only besieged city in Syria, nor is it the only city in which Syrian populations are facing atrocities. Nevertheless, alleviating civilian suffering and ending war crimes in east Aleppo is the biggest moral challenge facing the UN Security Council and the international community in the world today.

After five and a half years of atrocities and conflict, the international community and UN Security Council must end indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians, end the use of cluster munitions and other illegal weapons, and ensure unrestricted humanitarian access to all besieged populations.

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VDC: Civilians in Aleppo are under brutal attacks
Aleppo, September 28th, 2016
In the week followed the collapse of the latest ceasefire agreement in Syria, VDC was able to document a total of 120 attacks on Aleppo city and surrounding. These attacks resulted in killing 369 civilians.

VDC Press release
حلب، 28 أيلول 2016
وثق مركز توثيق الانتهاكات في سوريا في الأسبوع (21 – 26 أيلول/سبتمبر2016)، ما مجموعه 120 هجوماً على حلب وريفها. نتج عن ذلك مقتل 369 مدنياً، منهم 16 عاملا في مجال الإغاثة والإسعاف.
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