Brazil: 16 years of impunity in the Carandiru Massacre

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Posted: Oct 2 08

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Witnessed: 421 times

Detention, Impunity, Mass killings

brazil, Carandiru Massacre, impunity, prison, torture

This video contains graphic footage of human rights abuses

Sixteen years ago, 325 heavily-armed police officers raided the 9th Pavilion of the Carandiru Prison Complex in São Paulo, Brazil, and executed at least 111 inmates in one of the worst human rights atrocities in Brazilian history. According to witnesses, as many as 300 prisoners were killed.

Despite years of mobilization in the human rights community, the case has gradually faded from public memory. Until this day, none of the 88 officers directly charged with the killings have been brought to justice. Their crimes will reach the end of their statute of limitations in 2012. The colonel in charge of the operation - Ubiratan Guimarães - was initially sentenced to 632 years in prison but later acquitted on grounds of mistrial (before serving any time). He was later found dead in his apartment in an apparent crime of passion.

Strikingly, there has been little public debate - even in the blogosphere - about the massacre and the deadline for legal action. Watch an interview with a survivor of the massacre here: http://hub.witness.org/en/node/8884.

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