Rio police accused of death-squad killings
* Prosecutors request prison for 30 military police
* Accused of unlawful killings of youths in Rio
* Rio police tactics long condemned by rights groups
By Stuart Grudgings
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 7 (Reuters) - Public prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro have requested the imprisonment of 30 police officers accused of killing young men in "death squad" type executions, they said on Tuesday.
The state prosecutors' office said it had examined the deaths of 20 people in the Brazilian city between 2007 and 2008 and found strong evidence that many were executed. Police said the victims had resisted arrest.
The majority of the victims, all between 14 and 29 years old, were killed at close range or with bullets in their backs and only two of them had criminal records, the office said.
"This is activity typical of a death squad, shown by the technical evidence which disproves the police version that there was a confrontation," prosecutor Alexandre Thermistocles said in a statement.
Rio police kill about three people a day who are classified as resisting arrest, or 1,137 in 2008. That was down from 1,330 the previous year.
Rio's state government has been strongly criticized by human rights groups for using often brutal police raids on slums to seize drugs and arms, which have resulted in the deaths of innocent residents. A U.N. special rapporteur last year criticized federal and state governments in Brazil for not holding police to account for unlawful killings.
The 30 military police officers have been accused of 13 murders between them. A judge is expected to issue a decision on the request for imprisonment this week, local media said.
Rio's state security secretary, Jose Beltrame, replaced the head of the military police on Tuesday, but said the decision had nothing to do with the new accusations.
"The prosecutor's office is fulfilling its role and will have all the support of the military police," he said.
Accusations of unlawful killings are rarely investigated and the tough police tactics are broadly supported in Rio, a beach-side city of 6 million that is scarred by huge wealth disparities and hundreds of drug gang-controlled slums.
State security officials point to recent experiments in community policing in some slums to show the police are changing their ways.
But the most common method of policing slums remains violent raids to make arrests and retrieve drugs.
"What hurts is this -- that they enter someone's house, kill, and then say that this person was killed in an exchange of fire, that they are a bandit," said the mother of one of the victims interviewed by television network Globo.
Like most victims of police violence in Rio, she did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation. (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gair; Editing by Raymond Colitt and Doina Chiacu)
* Accused of unlawful killings of youths in Rio
* Rio police tactics long condemned by rights groups
By Stuart Grudgings
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 7 (Reuters) - Public prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro have requested the imprisonment of 30 police officers accused of killing young men in "death squad" type executions, they said on Tuesday.
The state prosecutors' office said it had examined the deaths of 20 people in the Brazilian city between 2007 and 2008 and found strong evidence that many were executed. Police said the victims had resisted arrest.
The majority of the victims, all between 14 and 29 years old, were killed at close range or with bullets in their backs and only two of them had criminal records, the office said.
"This is activity typical of a death squad, shown by the technical evidence which disproves the police version that there was a confrontation," prosecutor Alexandre Thermistocles said in a statement.
Rio police kill about three people a day who are classified as resisting arrest, or 1,137 in 2008. That was down from 1,330 the previous year.
Rio's state government has been strongly criticized by human rights groups for using often brutal police raids on slums to seize drugs and arms, which have resulted in the deaths of innocent residents. A U.N. special rapporteur last year criticized federal and state governments in Brazil for not holding police to account for unlawful killings.
The 30 military police officers have been accused of 13 murders between them. A judge is expected to issue a decision on the request for imprisonment this week, local media said.
Rio's state security secretary, Jose Beltrame, replaced the head of the military police on Tuesday, but said the decision had nothing to do with the new accusations.
"The prosecutor's office is fulfilling its role and will have all the support of the military police," he said.
Accusations of unlawful killings are rarely investigated and the tough police tactics are broadly supported in Rio, a beach-side city of 6 million that is scarred by huge wealth disparities and hundreds of drug gang-controlled slums.
State security officials point to recent experiments in community policing in some slums to show the police are changing their ways.
But the most common method of policing slums remains violent raids to make arrests and retrieve drugs.
"What hurts is this -- that they enter someone's house, kill, and then say that this person was killed in an exchange of fire, that they are a bandit," said the mother of one of the victims interviewed by television network Globo.
Like most victims of police violence in Rio, she did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation. (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gair; Editing by Raymond Colitt and Doina Chiacu)
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