In its first meeting after the parliamentary recess in July, the Public Security Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (2) a project that defends amnesty for military police officers prosecuted or punished for their role in the Carandiru Massacre, in 1992. authored by Deputy Captain Augusto (PL-SP), despite having advanced today, the text still has a long way to go in the House. Before going to the plenary, it needs to be voted on by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ). After these stages, if approved by the deputies, the proposal goes to the Senate for analysis.
In the text’s justification, the parliamentarian argues that, during a riot, the police have to act proportionately “to contain the violence of the rebels and, thus, fulfill their mission of maintaining public order”. He stressed that the principle of “individualization of the penalty” is not respected when the episodes related to the massacre are judged and the police are sentenced “only for being at the scene of the fact”.
The text grants amnesty to the crimes foreseen in the Penal Code, in the special penal laws, in the Military Penal Code and in related disciplinary infractions. “After almost 30 years, police officers who acted in this fateful episode still face, unfairly and disproportionately, legal proceedings that provide for convictions ranging from 48 to 632 years in prison, even though it is impossible to determine whether there was willful or negligent excess and still individualize any conduct. of the police. Without a final delineation until today, this case has become one of the longest legal imbroglios in the history of this country”, evaluated Captain Augusto.
For the parliamentarian, there is no constitutional support for the conviction of these professionals without individualized elements that point out the relationship between the criminal facts and the authorship.
During the debate, the only opponent was Deputy Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS). In another meeting of the collegiate, the parliamentarian had already submitted a request for a view of the matter, which returned to the agenda today. “I don’t want to be here, in any way, being frivolous, disinterested in the matter, but it is the result of a series of narratives that do not correspond to reality. .
Historic
On October 2, 1992, 111 detainees died in the massacre during an invasion by the Military Police to contain a rebellion in the Casa de Detenção in the North Zone of São Paulo. The police officers were tried and sentenced to sentences ranging from 48 to 624 years in prison. At the time, the PMs claimed that they shot the prisoners to defend themselves and that they were following superior orders.
In all, between 2013 and 2014, 74 police officers were tried and sentenced to prison. Only one of the agents is in prison, but for other crimes. The others remain at large. In 2016, the convictions were overturned by the São Paulo Court of Justice. In 2021, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) reinstated the convictions.
