Supreme Court Maintains Restriction on Police Operations in Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided to uphold Justice Edson Fachin’s individual decision to restrict police operations in Rio de Janeiro’s communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The vote was closed at midnight and conducted electronically in the Court’s online plenary.

By 9 votes to 2, the Supreme Court ratified Fachin’s decision to restrict operations. On June 5th, the Justice had granted the temporary restraining order sought by the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party).

Under the ruling, incursive operations may be launched only in exceptional cases. The police must still justify the measures in writing and report them to the Rio de Janeiro State Prosecutor’s Office (MP), the body in charge of external control of police activity.

The petition was filed by PSB in November last year. One of the reasons was the death of 8-year-old girl Ágatha Vitória Sales Félix in the sprawling Complexo do Alemão favela on September 20th. In May, the party again requested an injunction to suspend operations due to other cases of people shot during incursions.

Following Justice Fachin’s decision, some operations within the defined exceptions were conducted by the Rio State Police, after being reported to the MP.

Source: Agência Brasil