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With many parallels to that of George Floyd in the United States, the assassination of Silveira Freitas provoked a substantial controversy, including mass protests, in the South American country.
According to an autopsy performed by forensic doctors, the victim, 40, died of asphyxiation.
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The Civil Police of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul arrested six people on charges of the death of Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, a black man who died after being beaten up by security guards at a Carrefour supermarket in Porto Alegre.
The six people were charged with triple murder; two of them security guards, and another, an employee of the establishment, are already in custody.
A Polícia Civil indiciou 6 pessoas pela morte de João Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40, espancado por seguranças de uma loja do Carrefour. Todos foram indiciados por homicídio triplamente qualificado – motivo torpe, asfixia e recurso que impossibilitou defesa https://t.co/T5CmIBzP6h
— Socialismo Criativo (@social_criativo) December 12, 2020
"The Civil Police indicted six people for the death of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40, beaten by security guards in a Carrefour store. All were indicted for third-degree murder - tortuous motive, asphyxiation, and an appeal that made defense impossible."
Security guards Giovane Gaspar da Silva, 24, and Magno Borges Braz, 30, who beat up Joao Alberto, were arrested on the day of the crime. In addition to them, market surveillance agent Adriana Alves Dutra, 51, was arrested on November 24.
According to a police report, "we conducted a situational analysis of all evidentiary and doctrinal aspects and concluded, therefore, that the structural racism that is deeply rooted in society was, indeed, fundamental in determining the conduct of these individuals in this case.
In this sense, one of the commissioners responsible for the case, Roberta Bertoldo, expressed that "we understand that another person, being at that time, in that place, could have been treated differently."
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