Publique! - News - Brazil: Death tally reaches 400 in the wake of attacks in São Paulo State, says report

Publicada em: 09/06/2006 às 00:00
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Brazil: Death tally reaches 400 in the wake of attacks in São Paulo State, says report
Coav Newsroom

9 June 2006 – As the dust settles the numbers are made public. São Paulo State’s Regional Council of Medicine, CRM, delivered a new report to the Public Ministry this Friday the 9^th on the wave of killings unleashed by the attacks of organized crime in May. According to the report, Coroner’s posts, or the IML, reported a total of close to 400 firearms related deaths from May 12^th to the 20^th.

The number includes deaths unrelated to the crisis, such as crimes of passion and suicides. It is suspected that at least 34 people were murdered by death squads, most of the victims aged 15 to 25. Authorities have counted 132 deaths to date within confines of the Greater São Paulo area.

According to Desiré Carols Callegari, CRM president, the number of firearms victims is typically 4.55% of the total number of deaths recorded by the IML. In the week of the attacks by organized crime and after police counter-attacks, the percentage peaked at 71.88% on May 13^th dropping somewhat to 64.71% on May 15^th. As a result, the daily average of deaths by firearms more than doubled from 20 to 50 at the peak of the crisis.

Military Police in full uniform at the Legislative Assembly

On June 6^thmembers of the Special Independent Commission of the State Council for the Defense of Human Rights, Condepe, in charge of investigations into death squad killings in São Paulo met with Justice Attorney General Rodrigo César Rebello Pinho to discuss ongoing investigations.

The same day the head of the São Paulo State’s Office of Public Security, Saulo de Castro Abreu Filho was heard by the Legislative Assembly’s Security Commission on the topic of security. Surprising the Assembly, Saulo arrived in the company of 70 police officers in full uniform.

For Frederico dos Santos, president of the State Council of Human Rights, the high number of deaths recorded by the IML is indicative of excessive force on the part of the police, and lack of transparency in divulging information on the deaths.

“The Public Security Office, especially since Saulo took charge, has never acted with any transparency. It has always been difficult for us to obtain data. It is true of this crisis, of such wide repercussions, but also of many other cases. They omit data, and do not act with transparency. They do not dialogue with civil society,” complained the president of the State Council on Human Rights.

Sources: Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos, O Globo, Estadão

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