Public Prosecutor's Office investigates police operation in Cabula.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Bahia has opened a civil inquiry to investigate possible human rights violations in a Military Police operation on the 6th of this month in the Cabula neighborhood of Salvador, which resulted in the deaths of 13 people. The prosecutor in charge of the inquiry, Edson Abdon (on the left), states that "a thorough investigation of the circumstances of deaths that occurred in an alleged confrontation with the police is a basic requirement not only to legitimize police action in the defense of public safety, but also to ensure that excesses are rigorously punished and do not happen again."
Bahia 247 - The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Bahia (MPF-BA) has opened a civil inquiry to investigate possible human rights violations during an operation by the Rondesp (Special Rounds) of the Military Police on the 6th of this month, when they approached a group of people on Estrada de Barreiras, in the Cabula neighborhood of Salvador. The police action resulted in the death of 13 people and left three others injured, 'without any record of any internal investigation being initiated to investigate possible excesses on the part of the officers. The case will also be investigated by the Criminal Office of the MPF-BA,' the agency said in a statement.
Responsible for initiating the investigation, the public prosecutor Edson Abdon (on the left) states "that a thorough investigation of the circumstances of deaths that occurred in an alleged confrontation with the police is a basic requirement not only to legitimize police action in defending public safety, but also to ensure that excesses are rigorously punished and do not happen again."
According to the official version of events, the police intervention targeted a group allegedly planning a robbery at a Caixa Econômica Federal bank branch on Estrada das Barreiras. Statements given to the press by the Director of Amnesty International, Átila Roque, and by witnesses, residents of Vila Moisés – the location of the alleged confrontation – point to a possible summary execution of the group.
The prosecutor emphasizes that in 2013 Bahia "had the alarming rate" of 36,1 homicides per 100 inhabitants, higher than the already high national rate of 25,2 homicides per 100 inhabitants. According to Abdon, the data, published in the 8th Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security last November, corroborate the importance of the public authorities undertaking measures to reduce the number of homicides in the state, including the lethality of police forces.
External control of police activity
By virtue of the Federal Constitution (article 129, item VII), the Public Prosecutor's Office is responsible for the external control of police activity through judicial and extrajudicial measures. This legal provision is also expressed in the Organic Law of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Union, Complementary Law 75/93. In order to preserve the confidentiality of the material to be investigated and the progress of the investigations, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office decreed the secrecy of the inquiry.