A Brazilian judge has given three ex-policemen long sentences for the fatal shooting of a black man

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A judge on Saturday handed down long sentences to three former Brazilian Federal Highway Police officers for the 2022 death of a black man who died of asphyxiation inside a smoke-filled SUV.

A video of police forcefully holding Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, in the back of their police car as a black cloud of tear gas erupted from the car sparked outrage across Brazil and protests in Umbauba, northeast of Sergipe.

The police said that the man was angry and was “defiant” with the police who poured water on him. They said the agents stopped him and used “low power tools” to stop him.

The man could be heard screaming and the local media later reported that the victim tried to explain that he was taking psychiatric medication.

The judges found the police guilty of torturing and killing the man at the end of the trial that lasted 12 days. Judge Rafael Soares sentenced Paulo Rodolpho Lima Nascimento to 28 years in prison for murder, according to a statement from the 5th District Court.

Soares sentenced the other police officers, William de Barros Noia and Kleber Nascimento Freitas, to more than 23 years in prison each for torture that resulted in death.

In August 2023, an internal disciplinary process recommended that the three officials be fired, a decision that was later confirmed by the Department of Justice.

Police violence has become very prominent in Brazil recently. Last Tuesday, images of a military policeman in Sao Paulo throwing a man off a bridge into a river sparked controversy.

A day ago, local media G1 published a video showing an off-duty military policeman last month shooting and killing a young man who had stolen soap packets. That incident also happened in Sao Paulo.