Parliamentarians go to the UN to denounce abuses in January 8 prisons

Senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) and deputy Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RJ) lead this Friday (21) in New York a delegation of parliamentarians and lawyers that will deliver a dossier to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) on the situation of prisoners on January 8.

Guided by the Brazilian ambassador to the UN, Sérgio França Danese, the delegation expects to meet with representatives of the organization around midday to formalize the complaint. In the approximately 50-page document, prepared with the collaboration of defenders of hundreds of detainees in the acts of vandalism in Praça dos Três Poderes and signed by 53 parliamentarians, reports are made of an escalation of arbitrations and abuses committed against fundamental rights.

“Everyone needs to know what is happening in Brazil, where citizens are going through unimaginable trials, with systematic disrespect for the Constitution by those who should be its first guardians”, said Senator Eduardo Girão when leaving on Thursday night (20) for the United States.

“The constitutional prerogatives of lawyers and the reservations of jurisdiction of citizens were ignored by a series of acts that point to a state of exception”, protested deputy Marcel Van Hattem, also before leaving the country. According to him, it is time for the issue to be internationalized and for that reason a “robust denunciation” is being taken to the UN and other institutions that monitor human rights violations.

On July 13, relatives of the detainees and their lawyers attended a public hearing at the Senate Public Security Committee to present denunciations of human rights violations suffered by the detainees. Around 250 individuals remain imprisoned for more than six months in the penitentiaries of Papuda and Colmeia (female) as a result of acts related to vandalism on January 8. That day and the next, 1,406 people were arrested on buses and taken to prisons.

Lawyers report overcrowding and health dramas of detainees

During the session, the general public defender, Emmanuela Saboya, brought up the problem of overcrowding in cells in the prison unit for women. In addition, she highlighted the seriousness of the problems related to food and the evident negative impact on the mental and psychological health of the inmates. Reports of serious psychiatric problems and depression were shared, further increasing the concern with the conditions in which these women found themselves.

Gabriela Fernanda Ritter, president of the Associação dos Familias e Vítimas do 8 de Janeiro (ASFAV), reiterated her criticism of the food provided by the State and expressed her indignation at the lack of delivery of prescription drugs to prisoners who need treatment for comorbidities, as was the case of her own father.

Supporters hope that international political pressure can lead Brazil to seriously face the internal scenario of rights violations and guarantee humanitarian and dignified conditions for detainees.