{"id":12115,"date":"2018-05-17T14:06:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T14:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=12115"},"modified":"2021-04-06T17:22:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:22:54","slug":"letter-response-comments-governor-marcio-franca","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/letter-response-comments-governor-marcio-franca\/","title":"Letter of condemnation in response to comments made by Governor M\u00e1rcio Fran\u00e7a","content":"

On Thursday (17) Conectas Direitos Humanos and the M\u00e3es de Maio movement sent a condemnation letter to the S\u00e3o Paulo State Government, decrying the Governor M\u00e1rcio Fran\u00e7a\u2019s comments (PSB). The document criticizes the Governor\u2019s statement as being, to some extent, an incentive for police lethality and gives the message to society that there is a carte blanche to kill. Read the full statement:<\/p>\n

The S\u00e3o Paulo Governor M\u00e1rcio Fran\u00e7a\u2019s (PSB) statements on Monday (14), supporting lethal action by the state Military Police force, were irresponsible and validate the idea that the law is not applicable to everybody, in particular not to public security officers.
\nWhen praising a military police officer\u2019s reaction to a mugging, which resulted in the aggressor\u2019s death, the governor stated that \u201cpeople have to understand that their [the military police] uniform is sacred, it is an extension of the S\u00e3o Paulo state flag. If you offend the uniform, to offend a police officer, you are risking your life. That\u2019s how it has to be.\u201d As reported by the press.<\/p>\n

An official statement of this kind by the state governor is a worrying indication to the police force, the message being that they have carte blanche to kill.
\nIt is important to emphasize that there has been a recent sharp increase in the number of people killed by the police, reaching a shameful record of police lethality. In 2017 there were 943 cases, the highest number of victims on Public Security Records, which date back to 2001. In just the past three years over 2,600 people have been killed by the police in the whole state. The alarming figures indicate that confrontational strategies have been favoured and praised, as seen in the governor M\u00e1rcio Fran\u00e7a\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n

This is even more serious when seen in the current context. Precisely twelve years ago, Sao Paulo experienced the sad episode which came to be known as \u2018bloody week\u2019 or the \u2018May Crimes\u2019 when, in only nine days, over 500 people were killed by firearms. There were clear signs that these were executions carried out by death squads. Since then, studies carried out point to strong evidence attributing blame for these crimes to the Sao Paulo police force. Until today, those responsible have not been punished and investigations have been filed.<\/p>\n

The institutions who have signed below condemn the Governor\u2019s statements and stress that the use of lethal force should be the extreme exception. It should always be the last option and only within regulatory norms.<\/p>\n