Brazil: criminal group threatens ‘war on the state’ and makes demands in Rio Grande do Norte

Criminals demand the closure of the Rogério Coutinho Madruga prison and complain about prison conditions.

Criminals identifying as members of the faction responsible for attacks in Rio Grande do Norte released a video on social networks demanding an end to the acts of violence that have terrorized the State since Tuesday (14).

The Public Ministry and the state government are investigating the case and trying to identify the authors.

In the images, men threaten the police and authorities of Rio Grande do Norte.

“This war will not stop until all we demand is accepted by the government.”

One of the masked men says:

“We don’t want war, except with the government. Our war has been declared with the State.”

In the sequence, another mentions prison guards and police – whom he called “oppressors”.

“We’re not going to stop anymore, not while the rights of our brothers who are inside are not accepted.”

The masked men claim that the state judges are hindering the progression of prisoners to a semi-open regime.

“The STF can analyze human rights, and so can the competent bodies. We just want to get out of jail with dignity.”

They also demand that members of the correctional officers’ union, prison system employees, and the judiciary be investigated.

The men cite the Rogério Coutinho Madruga prison and say the unit has “overcrowded cells, sweltering, temperature 40°C to 50°C.”

According to them, the prison should be “deactivated for lack of conditions for prisoners to serve a sentence with dignity, the agents play hanging with the inmates, throw us inside a captivity full of pepper spray.”

TRANSFER

Also, this Saturday, nine Rio Grande do Norte penitentiary system prisoners suspected of commanding criminal attacks were transferred to federal prisons.

According to the state government, the transfer occurred in response to the recent attacks.

The nine prisoners were in Rogério Coutinho prison, located in Alcaçuz Complex, in Nísia Floresta, in Natal, and could be held in any of the five federal units spread around the country – one of them is in Mossoró, in the Potiguar west.

With the transfer, it reached ten, the number of Rio Grande do Norte custodians included in federal prisons since the beginning of the crisis in the State.

With information from Brasil Sem Medo