In another evidentiary hearing, the Court of Justice of São Paulo heard this Friday (2) two defense witnesses for the police officers tried in the case known as the Paraisópolis Massacre. The 12 military police officers are accused of the death of nine young people in an operation at the DZ7 funk dance, in the Paraisópolis community. episode occurred on the night of December 1, 2019.
In total, 13 police officers were to be tried for their participation in the operation, but the trial of one of them was suspended. The other police officers are charged with qualified homicide and bodily harm, with eventual intent.
The evidentiary hearing is a step in the process and will decide whether the police officers will be brought before a jury trial.
In total, 22 witnesses were called by the police. On June 28, five witnesses were heard. The Court of Justice of São Paulo has not yet set a new date to hear the remaining defense witnesses.
The prosecution witnesses have already been heard in three evidentiary hearings. The first two were held in July last year is at December. A third hearing took place on May 17, when nine prosecution witnesses and one common witness to the parties were heard.
After the investigation phase comes the interrogation phase of the defendants.
Operation
The massacre took place on the night of December 1, 2019, at a funk dance in Paraisópolis. The young people murdered were Gustavo Cruz Xavier, Denys Henrique Quirino da Silva, Marcos Paulo de Oliveira Santos, Dennys Guilherme dos Santos Franco, Luara Victoria de Oliveira, Eduardo Silva, Gabriel Rogério de Moraes, Bruno Gabriel dos Santos and Mateus dos Santos Costa. They were between 14 and 23 years old.
At the time of the incident, the police claimed that the officers responded to an attack by criminals who had fired at the vehicles and run towards the pancadão, as the funk dance is known. The narrative that the police maintain is that the victims died after being trampled, a version that is disputed by the families.
