The judge in charge of the Criminal Executions Court (VEP) of the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rafael Estrela Nóbrega, decided to transfer to federal prisons seven of the ten prisoners who, according to the Rio government, are involved in organized crime within the prison and are leaders of the Comando Vermelho faction.
The prisoners who will be transferred are: Arnaldo da Silva Dias, “Naldinho”; Carlos Vinicius Lírio da Silva, the “Soap Head”; Eliezer Miranda Joaquim, “Criam”; Fabrício de Melo Jesus, “Bicinho”; Marco Antônio Pereira Firmino da Silva, “My Thor”; Alexander de Jesus Carlos, “Shock”; and Roberto de Souza Brito, “Brother Metralha”.
In relation to Wagner Teixeira Carlos and Leonardo Farinazzo Pampuri, known as “Léo Barrão”, the VEP court requested that, within five days, the Civil Police Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro forward more information that would justify the transfer, in accordance with the provisions of the Law 11,671, of May 8, 2008.
The case relating to the Navy corporal, Riam Maurício Tavares Mota, who was the 10th listed on the list of the Civil Police Secretariat, is being judged as a criminal organization, still pending a trial. The Armed Forces soldier was arrested on charges of operating drones for the Red Command.
In 2023, Riam was arrested by the Federal Police inside a barracks in Niterói, in the metropolitan region of Rio. He was appointed as responsible for developing devices capable of attaching grenades to drones and for training criminals to use the equipment during attacks on rival groups.
The request for the transfer of prisoners occurred after the completion of the Operation Containmentby the civil and military police, which resulted in the deaths of 121 people, including two civil police officers and two soldiers from the Special Operations Battalion (Bope). The prisoners remain in a maximum security prison in the state of Rio until they are transferred to a federal prison.
Prisoners
The magistrate clarifies that the prisoners requested for transfer, except Corporal Riam, had convictions in drug trafficking cases and were not arrested during Operation Containment. According to the complaint, they exercise leadership in the Comando Vermelho faction.
“The actions of the Judiciary, within the scope of criminal execution, must, therefore, harmonize the principle of resocialization of the sentence with the indispensable duty of ensuring the stability and security of the prison system, which constitutes a pillar of public security itself. Therefore, it is the duty of this court to preserve the collective interest over the individual, especially in the face of a real risk of recidivism and coordination of criminal practices from prison, a situation that worsens social insecurity and challenges state authority”.
Inclusion in a federal maximum security establishment aims, precisely, to interrupt illicit communication between the prisoner and his criminal organization, guaranteeing qualified segregation and reestablishing the effectiveness of the preventive and repressive function of the sentence”, wrote the judge in the transfer decision.
