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Police killings in Brazil added up to almost 10 people per day, according to a new report released Thursday, in the middle of the country’s large prison riot crisis and growing discontent with the coup-imposed government of Michel Temer.
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A report by Human Rights Watch, HRW, says police officers, including off-duty officers, killed at least 3,345 people in 2015, according to security forces. According to the report, police killings were the result of strong use of force and extrajudicial executions.
“Chronic human rights problems plague Brazil’s criminal justice system, including unlawful police killings, prison overcrowding, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees,” said the report.
More than 622,000 people are currently incarcerated, about 67 percent more than the maximum limit, according to the Ministry of Justice of Brazil.
During the first year of 2017, 99 prisoners were killed in prisons in Amazonas, Roraima and Paraiba. Only in October 2016, 33 people were killed in prisons in the state of Pernambuco.
HRW was heavily criticized for not releasing any statement on the parliamentary coup that ousted President Dilma Rousseff lacking any proof of illegalities.
“Brazil suffered both economic and political crises in 2016,” said HRW. “In August, its Congress impeached President Dilma Rousseff; Vice President Michel Temer replaced her.”
The organization only referred to the country's political transition by dedicating the foreign policy chapter of its report to say that new Foreign Minister Jose Serra called the Venezuelan government “authoritarian and repressive,” showing a clear shift in regional political alliances.
CORRECTION
An earlier version of this article stated that Brazilian police killed nearly 100 people per day. The correct number is nearly 10.
Originally published Jan. 12, 2017. Updated Jan. 15 at 7:50 a.m.
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