Brazil is a constitutional federal republic with a population of approximately million. Three military police were convicted in the street killing of an Afro-Brazilian dentist in Sao Paulo. No further information was available regarding the police internal affairs investigation into the involvement of 13 military police arrested for the killing of William Douglas Santos and Fabricio Francisco da Conceicao in Campinas, Sao Paulo State.
Numerous credible reports indicated the continuing involvement of state police officials in revenge killings and the intimidation and killing of witnesses involved in testifying against police officials see section 1. Death squads with links to law enforcement officials carried out many killings, in some cases with police participation.
The National Human Rights Secretary stated that death squads operated in 15 states. Credible, locally-based human rights groups reported the existence of organized death squads linked to police forces that targeted suspected criminals and persons considered "undesirable" β such as street children β in almost all states and the Federal District. On March 31, a military police death squad invaded two suburbs in the Baixada Fluminense neighborhood near Rio de Janeiro City, and killed 29 persons in drive-by shootings to retaliate against the "Dagger in the Flesh" operation, a government initiative to eliminate extrajudicial killings and corrupt police practices.
Charges against two officers arrested on April 3 were dismissed; the investigation of the remaining nine continued at year's end. On July 16, 6 military police, 2 former policemen, and 3 lawyers were among 32 persons arrested in Curitiba, Parana State. Those arrested were accused of forming a death squad that killed 30 persons, including police commander Pedro Plocharski, in January. On July 30, four youths were killed in separate municipalities of the greater Rio de Janeiro City of Baixada Fluminense.
The burned bodies of a third brother, year-old Carlos Alberto Ferreira de Paula, and a family acquaintance, year-old Davi dos Santos Matias, were later discovered in Xerem.
