Rio Prosecutor’s Office, pressured by public opinion, creates task force on Jacarezinho massacre

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Jacarezinho massacre, which claimed the lives of 28 people last Thursday in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, continues to cause political and judicial repercussions.

Under pressure from public opinion and human rights organizations, the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office (MP), which is constitutionally responsible for the external control of police operations, announced the creation of a task force to investigate the massacre.

The group is to investigate allegations of police abuse. “It was the baptism of fire of Bolsonarism with a bloodbath,” says a social scientist about governor Cláudio Castro’s support for the operation. In the police and prosecutors’ offices, however, signs of uneasiness with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) build up.

The group will run for four months, which may be extended, and will investigate reports of police executions and abuse, the death of officer André Frias and the attempted murder of five other officers, two attempted murders of subway passengers, and any irregularities in the removal of bodies.

The task force will be headed by prosecutor André Cardoso and will be supported by three other officials -Flávia Maria de Moura Machado, Jorge Luis Furquim and Matheus Picanço-, and by other MP’s internal structures.

According to Cardoso, the bodies of the 27 civilians killed in the operation were autopsied, and he will analyze the forensic reports. Luciano Mattos, Rio’s Chief Prosecutor, said the investigation into the Jacarezinho operation will be conducted in parallel to a previous inquiry into the 21 suspected drug traffickers in the area. “This proceeding will continue at the 19th Criminal Court. The other case is related to the police action. The police must provide a justification,” he said.

The group’s establishment can be seen as a reaction to the Federal Supreme Court’s (STF) ruling, in June last year, restricting police operations during the coronavirus pandemic to exceptional cases, with prior communication to the state public prosecutor. The decision also calls for an independent investigation in case of police lethality. Mattos assures that the Supreme Court ruling has been “fully” complied with, and that the body he leads should analyze the operation “after the fact, not before.”

In Rio de Janeiro’s complex political web, the Jacarezinho operation seems to have been politically motivated by the Civil Police, sectors of the Rio Prosecutor’s Office, and also by recently appointed governor Cláudio Castro. For attorney Daniel Sarmento, one of the signatories of the lawsuit in the STF concerning the favelas, the court’s ruling has not been respected in the Jacarezinho operation, despite the fact that the police had notified the state MP. “It was not an exceptional case, precautionary measures were not adopted, as determined by the court, and there was manipulation of the crime scene,” he explains.

The very name of the operation that resulted in the massacre -operation Exceptis- is an ironic reference to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Soon after the massacre, the Civil Police held a press conference with strong political content, accusing “judicial activism” of hindering its activities.

“Preventing the police from fulfilling their role is not siding with the good side of society. Activism pervades a series of bodies and ideological groups that play against what the Civil Police believes. And the police are on society’s side,” said Police Chief Rodrigo Oliveira at the time. A police intelligence report claims, with no evidence, that the Supreme Court’s ruling to restrict operations has boosted drug trafficking during the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Civil Police Secretary Allan Turnowski once again supported the agents’ actions. “The police reaction depends on the criminal’s action. Traffickers from Jacarezinho were shooting to kill police officers. At the start of the operation, they shot a police officer in the head,” he justified in an interview to TV Globo’s RJTV. The police have been using the fact that 25 of the 27 killed in the operation had some criminal record, with past convictions for drug trafficking or offenses such as robbery and contempt – facts that in themselves do not justify any violent approach, much less summary execution.

“The investigation will lead us to say whether or not there was an execution. The investigation will also reveal if there was a potential massacre and slaughter as was judged before the investigation,” he added.

Turnowski’s earlier statements show a clear tone of defiance toward the Supreme Court’s ruling. “In fact, isn’t the violence in Rio an exceptional case? When the STF says that the police can only operate in exceptional situations, then we are fully justified,” he said in September, shortly after taking office.

On Tuesday, he said that, after doubts on how to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision, the Civil Police reached a “protocol of action” to notify the Prosecutor’s Office. And again challenged the STF: “Isn’t it exceptional that drug dealers on a hill enter residents’ homes? Isn’t it exceptional to shoot a police officer in the head upon entering? Isn’t it exceptional to have grenades exploding in Jacarezinho? What will be exceptional then?” he asked.

According to attorney Sarmento, the STF’s ruling caused discomfort among police forces from the start, but he believes that it does not establish that the Prosecutor’s Office should authorize an operation. He also thinks that the body had not been properly controlling operations. “It is a bureaucratic control. We are very concerned that GAESP [the internal control agency that investigates police misconduct] has been terminated.”

The involvement of the Prosecutor’s Office in the operation that led to the massacre is unclear, but important departments, mainly linked to the part that deals with criminal cases, were also uncomfortable with the Supreme Court’s ruling. In WhatsApp attorneys and prosecutors’ groups there is an article signed by Marcelo Monteiro, a Bolsonarist candidate to head the MP last year and who came in fourth place, referring to “judicial activism” on the part of the Supreme Court.

This discomfort is also evident in the technical note signed soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling. In the document, the Prosecutor’s Office tries to exempt itself, stating that the body will not be “the conductor of the daily tasks of police activity, but only the recipient of communication about its performance, for purposes of external control of police activity.” It also stresses that it is up to the police, “as already occurs,” to plan the operations, prepare the assessment, and make decisions regarding the operation.

Governor Cláudio Castro’s (PSC) approach is also noteworthy, as up to now he has been politically backing the operation. Since the beginning he has been saying that it is the result of “intelligence efforts.” Social scientist Silvia Ramos, coordinator of the Safety Observatories Network, believes that Castro, who has just taken office after Wilson Witzel’s impeachment, is trying to prove his strength and make himself viable as a Bolsonarist candidate in 2022.

“It was the baptism of fire in Bolsonarism with a bloodbath. He doesn’t use Witzel’s warlike style, but his position is highly political,” says Ramos. “It is possible that he didn’t know about the operation in Jacarezinho, but this is a wave he is trying to surf,” she believes.

According to Folha de S. Paulo journalist Monica Bergamo, Castro has been getting reports that positive mentions of him on social networks have increased after the operation. On Tuesday, when once again endorsing the operation, he made a point of opposing federal deputy Marcelo Freixo (PSOL), a potential candidate for the state governorship in 2022 elections.

“Our population can no longer stand being under the judgment of militias and trafficking. Public security is a priority. After an operation conducted to fulfill judicial warrants, they think they are going to scare us, with requests for a CPI (investigative committee) and impeachment,” he said.

“Marcelo Freixo and his PSOL troupe may call for as many impeachments as they want, the police will do their job. Our mission is to free our people. Including from you. There is no point in trying to anticipate 2022.″

Source: El Pais