PMs go to popular jury for nine deaths during dispersal of funk dance in Paraisópolis

The agents will also be tried for two bodily injuries against victims who survived the action.

The PMs respond to the process freely. Judge Ana Luisa Marcondes' decision was published on Monday (17). There is no start date for the trials.

The judge rejected requests from the police officers' defenses for the nullification of parts of the process on the grounds that the Public Prosecutor's Office included material that was not subject to contradiction during the investigation phase.

According to the indictment, that morning, police officers were carrying out an operation to disperse the dance known as DZ7. The estimated audience was between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

According to the Public Ministry, the action violated protocols for acting in civil disturbances. The police allegedly blocked the ends of Ernest Renan Street with vehicles and attacked some of those present with batons, shooting rubber bullets, stun bombs and gas.

The situation would have led to the confinement of people in a space with no escape routes, causing panic and widespread rush. A crowd was directed towards Viela do Louro, a narrow corridor with a sloping staircase.

For the prosecution, the circumstances resulted in the crushing and death by mechanical asphyxiation, resulting from indirect suffocation, of Bruno Gabriel dos Santos, Denys Henrique Quirino Silva, Dennys Guilherme dos Santos França, Eduardo da Silva, Gabriel Rogério de Moraes, Gustavo Cruz Xavier, Luara Victória Oliveira and Marcos Paulo Oliveira dos Santos.

Another victim, Mateus dos Santos Costa, died as a result of spinal trauma caused by a blunt agent.

In the same action, two women were injured. One of them was hit by a rubber bullet, which remained lodged in her body. The other suffered permanent facial deformity caused by fragments of bottles thrown during the dispersal. The agents are also responsible for two injuries considered serious and very serious.

The judge also accepted the Public Prosecutor's Office's request to maintain the description of a bad reason. According to the judge, there is evidence that the defendants' actions occurred as a form of abusive demonstration of power, in a context of tension between the Military Police and the community of Paraisópolis, including after the death of a military police officer in the region.

The decision also maintained the classification of means that resulted in common danger, due to the number of people who were in the place. According to the accusation, the attendees remained confined and subjected to non-lethal weapons fire, in a situation of widespread risk for an undetermined number of people.

During interrogation, the operation commander, who is also a defendant in the case, stated that she had not ordered the blocking of routes or the confinement of visitors. She reported, during the process, that the mobilization of military police occurred after an emergency request for support made by police officers who were on motorcycles and had been the target of shots fired by men on another motorcycle.

The commander stated that the action led to a situation of hostility against the police, who became the target of throwing stones, bottles and other objects. According to her, the priority of action was to protect the teams and contain the risk situation.

The police officer also said that she became aware of the injuries after the intervention ended, when she activated the rescue and took the victims to a hospital.

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