The Rio de Janeiro Court accepted the Public Ministry’s complaint and made ten military police officers from BOPE (Special Operations Battalion) are defendantsthe elite troop of the Rio Military Police, for invade houses during an operation in Complexo da Maréin the north of the city, on January 10, 2025.
The complaint was presented on April 10th and received by the Military Justice Audit last Friday (17th), opening the military criminal action. The PMS are responsible for the crimes of failure to fulfill mission and disobedience.
The MP’s complaint points out 13 occasions when the military invaded community homes. The defendant Bope police officers are:
- Rodrigo da Rocha Pita, corporal
- Luís Claudio Santos da Silva, 1st sergeant
- Douglas Nunes de Jesus, 2nd sergeant
- Carlos Alberto Britis Júnior, 3rd sergeant
- Rodrigo Rosa Araújo, 1st sergeant
- Diogo de Araújo Hernandes, 3rd sergeant
- Diego Ferreira Ramos Martins, corporal
- Jorge Guerreiro Silva Nascimento, corporal
- Bruno Martins Santiago, 3rd sergeant
- Felippe C. Martins, 1st lieutenant
According to the decision of judge Thales Nogueira Cavalcanti Venancio, the Public Prosecutor’s Office demonstrated, clearly, what the conduct of each of the police officers would be in committing crimes, with evidence of the materiality of the crimes and evidence that the accused are the perpetrators of the facts.
HAS CNN Brazilthe Military Police of Rio de Janeiro reported that the Corporation’s General Inspectorate, as soon as it became aware of the possible misconduct involving police officers, which occurred in January last year, initiated the appropriate investigative procedure.
After the investigations were completed, the report was forwarded to the Military Justice Audit.
Complaint
The investigations began after witnesses contacted the ministry’s staff reporting the incidents. According to the complaints, the police entered, without judicial authorization and outside legal conditions, several residences in the community, without the presence of residents.
According to the MPRJ, Corporal Rodrigo da Rocha Pita used, on different occasions, a “mix” type key to open doors of properties and access the locations, including accompanied by other police officers, including Sergeant Cláudio Santos da Silva. In some of these actions, agents even surprised residents inside their homes.
The complaint describes that, after invading the properties, the police used the spaces for private purposes, incompatible with police activity.
Among the behaviors highlighted are remain use bathrooms in residences and even consume drinks found inside one of the properties. In some cases, the agents remained inside the houses for prolonged periods, even though they were assigned to raid and stabilize actions.
Still according to the Public Ministry, there were irregularities in the use of Portable Operational Cameras (COPs). Police officers such as Rodrigo Rosa Araújo Costa and Diogo de Araújo Hernandes are accused of , causing them to record only “black screen” images.
In another situation, Corporal Jorge Guerreiro Silva Nascimento would have directed the camera inappropriatelypreventing the correct capture of the actions carried out during the operation.
Sergeants Douglas Nunes de Jesus, Carlos Alberto Britis Júnior, Bruno Martins Santiago were also denounced; Lieutenant Felippe Martins; and Corporal Diego Ferreira Ramos Martins.
The document also includes accusations of failure to fulfill their mission against agents who failed to carry out the activities for which they were assigned, remaining inside invaded properties without operational justification.
A CNN Brazil tries to contact the military defense. The space remains open.
