Killing of Brazil Journalists Prompts Talk of Stricter Law on Death Squads
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 13:34
Killing of Brazil Journalists Prompts Talk of Stricter Law on Death Squads
A top human rights official in Brazil's government said that Congress should push through a bill which makes contract killings a federal crime, after two journalists were shot to death in less than a week.
Maria do Rosario, head of the President's office's main human rights comission, said Congress should pass a bill allowing the federal government to investigate and prosecute contract killings. The bill would also increase the penalties for murders committed by militias and death squads, including increasing jail time for militia members from four to eight years, Agencia Brazil reports.
The minister said that the deaths of two journalists the past week should prompt Congress to pass the bill quickly. Online journalist Mário Randolfo Marques Lopes was shot dead alongside his wife on February 8 in Rio de Janeiro state. Four days later Paulo Cardoso Rodrigues (pictured above), editor-in-chief of the Jornal de Praca, was killed in the state of Matto Grosso do Sul near the border with Paraguay. In both cases, police said the deaths appeared to be politically motivated killings.
InSight Crime Analysis
Brazil's death squads are primarily made up of former or active police officials. Especially in rural areas, these groups contract themselves out as security to local business interests. They carry out extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals or other so-called "undesirables" like addicts or prostitutes. Other times, their target includes those deemed a threat to other powerful economic or political actors. These death squads have also expanded their activities into organized crime, including running kidnapping rings and trafficking weapons.
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