Government organisation suspects execution of 72 prisoners by prison workers
In a report, the National Mechanism for the Prevention and Combat of Torture (MNPCT) assesses ‘strong indications’ that bodies were incinerated in prisons after the 2017 uprisings.
Inspection carried out by Conectas, Justica Global and Pastoral Carceraria at the CNBB in the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex (Compaj), in Manaus (Amazonia), a few days after an uprising that left 5 dead and led to a crisis of violence in prisons across other Brazilian states.
The 2017 annual report of the MNPCT, an organisation linked to the Ministry for Human Rights which has independent experts, published on Wednesday 1 August, raises the suspicion that 72 prisoners were executed in 2017, by prison workers and that the bodies were hidden.
The disappearances were reported after a series of uprisings broke out at the beginning of last year in prisons in the north of the country, leading to the deaths of over 100 people.
According to the study, 64 prisoners disappeared from the Alcaçuz Penitentiary, in Rio Grande do Norte, and a further eight prisoners disappeared from the Monte Cristo Agricultural Penitentiary, in Roraima.
“These cases involve issues ranging from the criminal omission of the state in failing to exercise its obligation to carry out investigations and to search for the bodies, through to suspicions based on strong indications, of homicidal practices involving public agents, including hiding corpses.” An extract from the document says.
Penitentiary administrators in both states confirm they were unable to locate the prisoners and claim not to know whether these people were killed or whether they escaped.
In the Alcaçuz prison, the MNPCT team obtained information that several bodies may have been incinerated in a ball factory located within the prison and the rest were supposedly buried in improvised trenches or thrown into septic tanks.
“The public authorities are the only ones responsible for the custody of these people and for security in the units, therefore they should be held responsible, at the very least, for their omission in this absurd case.” Said Rafael Custódio, Coordinator for Institutional Violence at Conectas.
The organisation is linked to the National Committee for the Prevention and Combat of Torture (NPCT) who systematise denouncements of torture in prisons and are also responsible for selecting the specialists who make up the MNPCT.
