The Federal Supreme Court (STF) suspended Wednesday (13) the trial of the action that questions the actions of the police in communities in Rio de Janeiro, known as “ADPF das Favelas”. The session featured arguments from 25 representatives of parties involved in the process, including members of the state government, human rights defenders and civil society institutions.
However, the votes of rapporteur Edson Fachin and the other ministers will remain for a new session to be scheduled by the STF. The trial was attended by governor Cláudio Castro (PL-RJ), who questions the action requested by the PSB and states that the restrictions imposed strengthen organized crime.
“We have complied with the rules, with reduced lethality and cameras in operations, but the restrictions have also strengthened organized crime, with more disputes between factions and an increase in barricades,” he said in a post on social media.
The president of the STF, Luís Roberto Barroso, considered the debate as “complex, intense, difficult, in which many relevant interests come into conflict, including, obviously, the lives of people in these communities without condescension to crime”.
“But we also don’t want it to be a hiding place for criminals from different parts of Brazil”, he amended, stating that Fachin’s decision led to a reduction in deaths in Rio communities and “even a decrease” in crime.
He amended it by stating that the Court is not “in the slightest condescending towards crime, which needs to be addressed, and poor communities also need public security”. “But, above all, we are not tolerant of police lethality, which compromises especially black lives and reinforces this structural racism that we all need to face,” he added.
The action was filed in 2019 by the PSB and human rights entities for alleged human rights violations in police operations in communities. Among the requests are a ban on the use of helicopters in raids, the creation of a plan to reduce deaths by police officers, stricter rules for home searches and restrictions on operations during school hours, in addition to the preservation of evidence in cases of crimes committed during these operations.
During the session, lawyer Daniel Sarmento highlighted that the action aims to defend democracy, taking it to territories where, according to him, it has not yet reached. The state’s attorney general, Renan Miguel Saad, argued that the Rio government has complied with the STF’s determinations, but warned that judicial decisions that dictate how public security should be conducted violate the separation of powers.
The Attorney General of Justice, Luciano de Souza, presented data on the role of the Public Ministry in monitoring police operations, while representatives of the Public Defender’s Office highlighted the impacts of the raids on the lives of residents, such as the loss of school days and difficulties in access to health services.
Human rights organizations and representatives of the black movement highlighted, in turn, cases of children and young people killed during police operations, which generate violence against community residents.
Since the beginning of the action, the STF has already determined a series of measures, including restrictions on police action during the pandemic, the development of a plan to reduce lethality in favelas and the use of cameras on agents’ uniforms.
However, the action represents judicial interference in the federal pact provided for in the Constitution, which guarantees states the autonomy to formulate their own public security policies.
