The trial regarding the 'ADPF das Favelas' (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental das Favelas - Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept of the Favelas) resumes and will define the course of security policy in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil of Fact - This Thursday (3), starting at 14 pm, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) resumed the trial of the Argument of Non-Compliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 635, known as “ADPF of the Favelas”, which discusses police lethality in operations in communities in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The trial was scheduled to take place last week.However, the president of the Court, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, postponed the date to allow for an "internal consensus" on the matter.

Organizations working in favor of human rights and popular movements are mobilized for the trial that could change the course of security policy in the state of Rio. Fransérgio Goulart, executive director of the Initiative for the Right to Memory and Racial Justice (IDMJR), the only organization in the Baixada Fluminense region as amicus curiae he explained the process to Brazil of Fact Here are some key points that will be central to the Supreme Court's analysis of ADPF 635 this Thursday.

“It is no longer acceptable for the police force that promotes death to be the same police force that investigates and produces forensic evidence. There is already a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Nova Brasília case, which condemned Brazil and even deliberated on the creation, within the state structure, of independent forensic units outside the framework of the police. There is already established international jurisprudence, which the ADPF (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental – Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept) also requests: to remove forensic evidence from the hands of those who produce death,” Goulart explains, recalling the case of… Favela Nova BrasíliaIn the Complexo do Alemão favela, 26 people were executed in two massacres that occurred in 1994 and 1995. Brazil was condemned by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) due to violations of the rights to judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality in the investigation.

According to the director of IDMJR, another point that could result in a decrease in police lethality came from Minister Edson Fachin during his vote as rapporteur on February 5th. The minister highlighted the need to remove police officers involved in two homicide cases from their posts.

According to Goulart, to ensure compliance with the decisions made by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), it is essential that the Monitoring Committee be maintained with the participation of civil society.

“We need the monitoring committee to guarantee the participation of civil society, as stated in the opinion of the rapporteur, His Excellency Minister Edson Fachin. The participation of civil society in this committee is a fundamental democratic principle to guarantee transparency,” he emphasizes.

Last week, 37 institutions and civil society movements from Rio de Janeiro delivered a letter to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in support of the "ADPF das Favelas" (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental das Favelas - Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept of the Slums). According to the document, ADPF 635 is an opportunity for "the construction of a social environment that prioritizes mutual listening and popular participation in addressing historical and structural problems related to public safety in favelas and peripheries."

The letter, signed by the Presidency of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the rectors of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), and the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), expresses the understanding of ADPF 635 as part of "society's commitment to supporting and building a public security policy that defends the right to life and dignity," which is not about limiting the actions of public security agents, but about recognizing and correcting serious violations of the Constitution committed by the state government.

Historic - The "ADPF das Favelas" (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental das Favelas - Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept of the Favelas) was filed in 2019 by the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) and human rights organizations with the aim of having serious violations of fundamental constitutional principles recognized and remedied, stemming from the public security policy of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

On February 5th, during the trial of ADPF 635, the Minister Edson Fachin proposed the partial approval of the plan presented by the state government.; the adoption of measures to ensure the independence of investigations into deaths (of civilians and police officers) in police actions and operations and to increase the transparency of data on them; and the creation of a committee to monitor compliance with the measures, with the participation of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ), the Public Defender's Office of the state (DPE-RJ), the National Council of Justice (CNJ), the state government, representatives of civil society and experts in public security.