HUMAN RIGHTS-BRAZIL: UN Denounces Rampant Prison Torture

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 11 2001 (IPS) - Torture is widespread in Brazil’s police and penal systems, charges a United Nations report released Wednesday, repeating condemnations heard previously from national and international human rights groups.

“A culture of brutality,” frequently linked to corruption, permeates the police force and prison security, says the report presented in Geneva by Nigel Rodley, special rapporteur on torture for the UN Commission on Human Rights.

This “systematic” practice tends to expand because it is fomented by society, as the public demands ever-greater repression against acts of violence, he pointed out.

The communications media contribute to the dynamic, according to Rodley, with their sensationalist news reports that fuel the population’s often exaggerated perception of crime levels. Politicians also exploit the issue to win the support of voters at election time.

The UN study outlines 349 cases of torture recorded by the team Rodley led on a tour of prisons in six Brazilian states last August and September.

One of the cases involves Alexandre Madado Pascoal, who was the victim of sexual violence in a Rio de Janeiro prison and was beaten so hard that he fainted four times during interrogation.

He apparently was being punished for allegedly stealing 20 ‘reais’ (10 dollars). The UN mission was able to verify Madado Pascoal’s physical wounds during an Aug 28 visit.

This panorama of police violence in Brazil is already broadly known as a result of denunciations by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and parliamentary commissions, which have collected similar evaluations and testimonies.

However, this first monitoring mission by the UN has greater force and repercussions on the international level, “obligating the Brazilian government to implement measures,” commented Marcos Rolim, president of the Human Rights Commission in the Chamber of Deputies.

It also constitutes additional pressure for this country to comply with commitments made in international forums, added María Luiza Mendonça, director of the non-governmental Centre for Global Justice and a long-time activist in the area.

The forceful language used in the UN report about the seriousness of Brazil’s situation and in its recommendations to combat police violence will also help to spur action by the government, added Mendonça.

Justice Minister José Gregori reacted to the report by stating that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s administration does not have direct responsibility over the incidents outlined, which occurred within the jurisdiction of the state police.

He maintained that the Cardoso government has always taken action when cases of torture have been reported and has sought to eliminate the practice in this country.

Among its efforts to do so was the 1997 enactment of a law that defines and establishes punishments for this crime, Gregori added.

But the legislation did not affect the impunity of the torturers, Mendonça pointed out. Since the law entered into force, only one law enforcement agent has been sentenced for torture, and that case is still pending appeals in higher courts, she said.

Brazil’s National Secretary for Human Rights, Gilberto Saboia, acknowledges the “great distance between law and practice,” which he said is the result of difficulties in getting the authorities in different spheres to apply the measures.

Deputy Rolim said he hopes the UN document will push the Judiciary to make sure the related legislation is implemented. Progress has been made, if only because currently “everyone recognises the existence of the torture problem,” he commented.

Even the government has abandoned attempts to hide the illegal violence perpetrated by the police, though it continues trying to escape blame and adopting occasional measures when a specific case has a major public impact, said the lawmaker.

The Human Rights Commission in the Chamber of Deputies conducts periodic investigations, touring the Brazilian prisons and other institutions in which citizens’ freedoms are restricted, such as psychiatric hospitals.

Rolim commented that the worst situation, “which would have angered (the UN special rapporteur) even more,” was found in Sao Paulo at a unit of the Federation for Children’s Welfare, the agency entrusted with juvenile delinquents.

The disciplinary regimen there is “institutionalised torture, a concentration camp,” asserts the deputy. The minors are forced to sit on the floor and are not allowed to talk, all within an environment of overcrowding and violence, he said.

Torture in Brazil is rampant in prisons and police stations, but it is not practiced indiscriminately. The victims are almost always poor and black or mixed-race. Criminals from the middle and upper classes receive “privileged treatment,” Rodley reported.

The UN document includes recommendations that the Brazilian police and prison systems be brought under civilian control and that alleged torturers be tried in court, and dismissed if found guilty.

The report states that police must notify a detainee’s family of the arrest, that the detainee has a right to consult a lawyer, and that police cannot investigate crimes in which a member of the force is implicated.