TIME International
May 13, 1996 Volume 147, No. 20
MICHAEL S. SERRILL
A sudden stillness fell over the packed Rio de Janeiro courtroom as police officer Marcos Emmanuel began his confession. Yes, he testified, he and other off-duty cops had set out on the night of July 23, 1993, to find the pack of vagrant kids who had stoned a police car the day before. And yes, he had helped abduct three kids, shot one of them dead and then accompanied other cops to the spot where his buddies shot 11 more youths, killing six, ages 11 to 20.
Shocking both for the nature of the crimes and the novelty of a cop's admitting wrongdoing, Emmanuel's confession last week was the sensation of Brazil's most high-profile court case since the trial of Chico Mendes' assassins in 1990--the prosecution of the first of eight men charged with murdering eight street children in an appalling murder spree that made international headlines. Emmanuel's statement opened a marathon legal proceeding that featured dramatic testimony from one of the youths that he and his fellow cops tried and failed to kill. In the end, after the trial had dragged on for more than 24 consecutive hours, a seven-member jury found Emmanuel guilty of six murders and eight other crimes, and Judge Jose Geraldo Antonio handed down an extraordinary sentence of 309 years in prison.
The verdict was initially hailed as a landmark in the struggle to tame Brazil's brutal and often corrupt system of militarized law enforcement. "This is a small wedge in the fortress of impunity [for police accused of violence] in Brazil," says Alison Sutton of Amnesty International, one of many human-rights advocates who attended the trial. "This sends a message that impunity won't be tolerated." President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said the trial showed Brazil was on the path to equal justice for all citizens. But soon after the verdict was read, questions were raised about how much of his sentence Emmanuel would have to serve under Brazil's penal code.
Any degree of leniency will add to the worldwide outrage over the Candelaria massacre--so named after the church in downtown Rio near which six of the killings took place. As the Emmanuel trial began last week, there were marches and vigils in San Francisco and Toronto, Lisbon and Barcelona appealing for an end to violence against children. "The Candelaria case goes far beyond the killing of a handful of street kids by a handful of corrupt cops," says James Cavallaro, the head of Human Rights Watch in Brazil. "It is emblematic of gross human-rights violations." Social activists estimate that more than 1,000 unwanted, homeless children forage for a living on Rio's streets. A report from the state juvenile court said an average of three street children are killed every day in the city, many by police at the behest of merchants who consider the kids' begging, thieving and glue sniffing a major nuisance.
The prosecution's star witness in the Candelaria case was Wagner dos Santos. A homeless 21-year-old at the time of the killings and the oldest member of the Candelaria street kids pack, he was forced into a car along with two friends. All were shot repeatedly, then dumped on a lawn close to Rio's Museum of Modern Art. Wounded three times, Dos Santos was the only survivor. After agreeing to testify, he went into hiding in the state of Bahia, but returned to Rio a year later, only to be hunted down and shot again. Last year he was shipped off to Switzerland under the protection of Amnesty International until his appearance in court last week. Dos Santos dramatically gestured at Emmanuel when asked if any of his would-be executioners were in the courtroom. He also positively identified Lieut. Marcelo Cortes and police officer Jorge Liaffa in police lineups; they, with five other defendants, face trial later.
It was the threat of damning testimony by Dos Santos that led Emmanuel to put his own version on record. Another defendant, ex-cop Nelson Cunha, had earlier admitted his role in the Dos Santos shooting, but like Emmanuel he denied participating in the massacre at the Candelaria church. Both Emmanuel and Cunha insisted that Cortes, the only commissioned officer accused, and two other defendants were guiltless; they placed most of the blame for the rampage on a renegade ex-cop named Mauricio da Conceicao, who died in a shootout with detectives in 1994.
Legal analysts speculate that Emmanuel and Cunha might be taking a fall for their superior officer. Suspicion of Emmanuel's confession grew when it became clear that his 309-year sentence was a mirage. Brazilian law sets the maximum prison term at 30 years. Moreover, defendants sentenced to more than 20 years for a single crime automatically get a new trial. Experts believe that as a first offender Emmanuel could end up with a relatively short sentence.
Whatever happens to Emmanuel, human-rights activists maintain that it was a watershed for Brazil that a military policeman was brought to justice. Moreover, the massacre and trial have focused an international spotlight on the abuse of Brazil's children. "We will keep the pressure on," says Sutton of Amnesty International. "We will continue to be vigilant."
--Reported by Ian McCluskey/Rio de Janeiro