Brazil judge gives 3 former officers long sentences for killing of Black man in trunk

A judge has handed down long sentences to three former officers of Brazil’s Federal Highway Police over the 2022 death a Black man who was killed by asphyxiation inside an SUV’s smoke-filled trunk

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A judge on Saturday handed down long sentences to three former officers of Brazil’s Federal Highway Police over the 2022 death a Black man who was killed by asphyxiation inside an SUV’s smoke-filled trunk.

Video of officers forcibly keeping Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, in the back of their police vehicle as a dense cloud of what appeared to be tear gas emerged from the car sparked outrage across Brazil and protests in Umbauba, in the northeastern state of Sergipe.

Police had said the man displayed aggressive behavior and was “actively resisting” the officers who pulled him over. They said agents immobilized him then used “instruments of lesser offensive potential” to contain him.

The man could be heard screaming and local media later reported that the victim had tried to explain that he was taking medication for psychiatric disorders.

Jurors found the officers guilty of torturing and killing the man at the end of a 12-day trial. Justice Rafael Soares sentenced Paulo Rodolpho Lima Nascimento to 28 years in prison for homicide, according to a statement from the 5th Federal Regional Court.

Soares sentenced the other officers, William de Barros Noia and Kleber Nascimento Freitas, to more than 23 years in prison each for torture resulting in death.

In August 2023, an internal disciplinary process recommended that the three officers be dismissed, a decision that was later confirmed by the Justice Ministry.

Police violence has once again come into sharp focus in Brazil recently. Last Tuesday, footage of a military police officer in Sao Paulo throwing a man off a bridge and into a river prompted a backlash.

A day earlier, local media G1 published a video that showed an off-duty military police officer last month firing a series of shots at and killing a young man who had stolen packets of soap. That incident also occurred in Sao Paulo.