Mauro voter Figueiredo Rocha Dias da Costa, 69, attacked in front of the building where he lives, in Copacabana, south of Rio, on Thursday night (11), stated in a video sent to UOL that the attackers intended to kill him.
The investigates the case as bodily injury. The elderly man says that the motivation for the crime was political, as he was carrying a backpack that had a (PT) sticker on it and because the attackers shouted Bolsonaro slogans.
“It was a cruel attack. It was incredibly brutal. It was an attempted murder. They were going to kill me. They only stopped because a strong man arrived and said: ‘stop, stop, you’re going to kill the old man’. And then they left laughing,” said Mauro da Costa.
He said he was attacked with a “rear naked choke” and punched in the face.
According to the victim, when he arrived in front of the building where he lives, he was cornered by a man dressed in a suit and two women, all of whom looked like fighters and were around 30 years old. The elderly man stated that one of the women immobilized him by the neck, while the man punched him. The attacks, according to him, lasted approximately five minutes.
“They premeditated all of this. I was ambushed, they were lying in wait, waiting for me to get home. They knew where I lived. And they started attacking me, shouting ‘yeah, Bolsonaro!, yeah, Bolsonaro!’ and ‘you’re going to die, you dirty PT member.'”
The elderly man stated that the attackers had hate speech and made threats against his life. The victim said that the trio said phrases such as “we are going to kill you now” and “you have already harmed a lot of people”.
“I was out of breath and continued to be beaten, with kicks and punches. I was thrown against the gate. I have a lot of pain in my back. The marks are on my face. My mouth is all bruised, I’m even going to the dentist. They were going to kill me.”
The elderly man reported that the doorman of the building where he lives, despite seeing the attacks, stood in front of the entrance gate without opening access to the building despite calls for help. The place has security cameras. The images were requested by the civil police investigating the case. The elderly man did not have access to the images.
“He had no empathy. He didn’t even shout ‘stop, stop’, anything like that. He watched this attempted murder that I was suffering.”
In a statement, the Civil Police reported that investigations are ongoing. The case was registered at the 14th DP (Police Station), in Leblon, but was transferred to the 12th DP, in Copacabana. The police stated that the victim was taken to the IML for a forensic examination. The PM (Military Police) reported that, according to the 19th battalion, in Copacabana, the corporation was not contacted.
The PT bench did not provide solidarity in a statement. “It is unacceptable that, in the full democratic rule of law, a citizen is attacked, threatened and violated for his political convictions”, he stated.
Representative Benedita also expressed support for the attacked militant. “This is political hatred and cowardice,” he said on his social media.
