{"id":60819,"date":"2020-07-29T10:14:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T13:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=60819"},"modified":"2022-05-31T11:47:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:47:58","slug":"supreme-court-considers-landmark-case-on-police-operations-in-rios-favelas-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=60819","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Supreme Court Considers Landmark Case on Police Operations in Rio\u2019s Favelas, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

This is the second installment of a two-part piece looking at a Brazilian Supreme Court case known as \u201cADPF das Favelas.\u201d It discusses the effects of a legal opinion and a temporary order issued by Justice Edson Fachin and the significance of the case\u00a0going forward. To read part I, click <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>. The series\u00a0is part of our\u00a0partnership with<\/em>\u00a0The Rio Times<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0For the report as published in The Rio Times click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin\u2019s June 5 <\/span>temporary order<\/span><\/a> in the ADPF 635 case, known as the ADPF das Favelas, suspended police operations in Rio\u2019s favelas for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic except in \u201cabsolutely exceptional\u201d circumstances. The court\u2019s ten other justices began <\/span>deliberating<\/span> the case on June 26. Due to a court recess in July, the proceedings will continue in the beginning of August.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wording of Fachin\u2019s temporary order echoed the strong tone of his previously issued opinion on the case. It extensively questioned the legitimacy of Rio police officers\u2019 use of force, writing, \u201cnothing justifies a 14-year-old child being shot at more than 70 times. That fact alone indicates that given current norms, nothing will be done to diminish police lethality, a state of affairs that in no way respects the Constitution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many supporters of the ADPF lawsuit, who discussed it at a <\/span>June 25 online panel<\/span><\/a>, took in the news of Fachin\u2019s order with caution given what they described as the justice system\u2019s historic lack of control of police actions. According to Brazil\u2019s constitution, state public prosecutors’ offices are responsible for external control of police activities. Rio\u2019s State Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office told researchers<\/a>\u00a0in 2016 that they filed charges for only four of the 3,441 police killings between 2010 and 2015\u2014a mere 0.01%.<\/span>\u00a0The Intercept Brasil<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a> that of the record-breaking 741 police killings in the first five months of 2020, the public prosecutor filed charges for only one. At the panel discussion, Pablo Nunes of the Center of Studies of Security and Citizenship<\/a> (CESeC) at C\u00e2ndido Mendes University said that in 2018, the public prosecutor solved less than 4% of more than 1,500 police killings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In their <\/span>legal filing<\/span><\/a>, the claimants in the ADPF das Favelas called for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to be obligated to exercise its control of state security<\/a> forces in Rio de Janeiro and suggested that it be internally reorganized to better achieve this. As things currently stand, said public defender<\/a> L\u00edvia Casseres, the justice system has long allowed \u201cillegal and unconstitutional use of force\u201d by law enforcement officers in Rio. Wallace Corbo of NGO <\/span>Educafro<\/span><\/a> described the ADPF das Favelas as the most recent of many past \u201ctests\u201d and an opportunity for the Supreme Court to use its legal sovereignty to \u201cre-orientate this structure [and] this way of thinking.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The ADPF das Favelas and Fachin\u2019s temporary order have drawn harsh criticism from some police officers. \u201cEven during a pandemic, organized crime does not stop,\u201d Felipe Curi, operational sub-secretary of Rio\u2019s Civil Police, <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> news site G1<\/em>. Colonel Andr\u00e9 Luiz Batista, commander of the Military Police\u2019s Shock Battalion, <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> G1<\/em> that those killed by police are \u201cagents outside of the law, delinquents. It is not a death that is calculable from a humanitarian point of view [\u2026] if they stopped dying, they would probably commit other crimes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the month of June, however, following Fachin’s order to stop police operations, homicides in Rio\u00a0fell<\/a> 6.2% from their May total, deadly violent crimes fell 6.8%, and vehicle robberies fell 11.2%, according to government statistics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Impacts of the ADPF Case So Far<\/h3>\n

Following the court decision, police killings in Rio <\/span>fell<\/span><\/a> from 129 in May to 34 in June. Between June 5 and June 19, there was a 75.5% reduction in deaths during police operations in comparison with averages for the same period between 2007 and 2019, according to <\/span>analysis<\/span><\/a> by Fogo Cruzado<\/a> and the Group for the Study of New Illegalities at Federal Fluminense University. These reductions amount to 18 lives being saved in just 15 days, or around 9 deaths prevented per week. The groups estimate that if the ban on police operations were extended for a full year, around 468 lives of citizens and police personnel would be saved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many behind the ADPF emphasized that its contributions\u2014in addition to its immediate potential to save lives and forward-looking proposals for reform\u2014also include the strength of its analysis on racism’s role in continued state violence. The <\/span>amici curiae\u00a0<\/span><\/i>brief<\/a> discusses \u201cstructural racism which permeates the history of the institutions of [Brazil and] created the bases that underlie the savagery promoted by the current public security policy in the state.\u201d Brazil\u2019s Civil<\/a> and Military Police<\/a> were created in the 19th century, it notes, \u201cintimately linked<\/a> to the installation of the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro and the guarantee of protecting a slaveholding elite.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the online discussion, Corbo said that the way police operations are conducted in favelas today reflect a \u201cracist logic\u201d which is \u201cshaped by a set of values that simply don\u2019t see some lives as lives, homes as homes, people as people.\u201d The opinions of the Supreme Court Justices in the ADPF das Favelas case, said Corbo, will be their opportunity to respond to a very clear question: \u201cDo black lives matter?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The case coincides with new efforts at the United Nations to study and denounce systemic racism by law enforcement agents against Afro-descendent populations: in June, the Human Rights Council <\/span>resolved<\/span><\/a> to solicit a report on the issue from the High Commissioner on Human Rights.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some activists who are part of the <\/span>amicus curiae<\/span><\/i> for the ADPF das Favelas emphasized that ultimately, it is not the government alone that will decide the well-being of favela residents. Residents have \u201cresisted until now [\u2026] because previous favela movements, black movements [\u2026] constructed some type of support\u201d in the face of government neglect, said Frans\u00e9rgio Goulart of the Right to Memory and Racial Justice Initiative<\/a>. Mutual aid during the pandemic, he said, is just the most recent example of how, in the face of need, \u201cit wasn\u2019t the state that responded, it was the residents themselves [\u2026] I think that the actions for combating Covid-19 show that we have capacity beyond the reasoning of the state.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, at this moment, that capacity may prompt a state body to take responsibility for violations in Rio\u2019s favelas like never before. Such a decision could then become powerful precedent. What happens in Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court \u201ccan move other [legal and human rights] bodies,\u201d said Camila Asano of Conectas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A social media <\/span>campaign<\/span><\/a> calling for the approval of the ADPF is underway with the hashtags #ADPFdasFavelas and #ADPF635, often followed by the hashtag #VidasNegrasImportam (Black Lives Matter).<\/span><\/p>\n

Favela residents called for the enforcement of the ADPF das Favelas beyond the pandemic. \u201cThe [Supreme Court] thinks that now, because of the pandemic, that [police] operations shouldn\u2019t happen. Operations should never happen,\u201d said Renata Trajano of <\/span>Coletivo Papo Reto<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Alem\u00e3o Crisis Center<\/span><\/a>. \u201cWe deserve respect all the time and not only when [the court thinks] that we need to have it,\u201d said Eliene Vieira of Mothers of Manguinhos<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trajano urged the court to fully approve the requested measures in the ADPF das Favelas, \u201cso that our children don\u2019t have to die, so that our young people don\u2019t have to die, so that our women don\u2019t have to carry our bodies, of our children, of our people, of our skin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured and second photo: Luna Costa<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Support our efforts to provide strategic assistance to Rio\u2019s favelas during the Covid-19 pandemic, including\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0by clicking here<\/a><\/b>.<\/b><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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