Three police officers in Brazil sentenced in tear gas suffocation case
Al Jazeera
The three officers were convicted in the death of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, a Black man who died in police custody.
Three former members of Brazil’s Federal Highway Police have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the torture and death of a Black man held in the boot of their squad car.
On Saturday, Justice Rafael Soares, a judge for the 7th Federal Court in the Brazilian state of Sergipe, gave one of the officers, Paulo Rodolpho Nascimento, 28 years in prison for the crime of aggravated homicide.
Two of his colleagues, William Noia and Kleber Freitas, each received 23 years in prison for torture resulting in death.
The sentencing was the culmination of a case that began in May 2022, with the arrest of 38-year-old Genivaldo de Jesus Santos.
The three officers pulled Santos over for riding his motorcycle without a helmet, not far from the town of Umbauba in Sergipe.
