(RSF/IFEX) – On 14 August 2002, RSF voiced its serious concern about recent developments in the investigation into the murder of television journalist Tim Lopes. The organisation is particularly concerned about the death in the space of a week of two suspects who had been wanted for their presumed participation in the killing and reports […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 14 August 2002, RSF voiced its serious concern about recent developments in the investigation into the murder of television journalist Tim Lopes. The organisation is particularly concerned about the death in the space of a week of two suspects who had been wanted for their presumed participation in the killing and reports of police corruption.
In a letter to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the two suspects, especially Mauricio de Lima Mathias, who was reportedly killed in an exchange of gunfire with police during an attempt to detain him.
Ménard said the organisation was also “extremely concerned” about reports that the journalist’s killers had corrupted police officers. “It would be scandalous if elements in the police help keep this crime unpunished,” Ménard said, stressing that “this odious crime has outraged Brazilian society and the international community.”
The organisation asked to be kept informed of the results of the inquiry into the presumed corruption of police officials by Elias Pereiora, the head of the gang that executed Lopes. Finally, RSF also insisted that measures be taken to guarantee the safety of the five suspects currently held in this case and the safety of witnesses.
One of Lopes’ presumed killers, André da Cruz Barbosa, alias “André Capeta” (André the Devil), was shot in the head and died on 13 August. The police claim he probably killed himself, but have not ruled out the possibility that he was gunned down by a rival gang or members of his own gang. However, according to Aldney Zacharias Peixoto, a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he could have been seen as someone who knew too much and may therefore have been executed by corrupt police habitually paid by the gang to ensure its protection.
The other suspect, de Lima Mathias, was shot dead five days earlier, on 8 August, when police tried to arrest him in the Vigario Geral shanty town (north of Rio de Janeiro), where he was hiding. He had been implicated in the journalist’s death by other suspects, and was one of four persons wanted by police in the case.
According to Agence France-Presse, an anonymous caller recently told the police that Elias Pereira, alias “Elias Maluco” (Crazy Elias), the chief of the band of drug dealers that executed the journalist, had paid 600,000 reals (approx. US$195,000; 199,400 euros) to corrupt police officers, so that they would leave him alone. This information is denied by Military Police Commander Francisco Bras. However, Sergio Aguiar, secretary for public security in Rio de Janeiro, has said that “it is very possible that Crazy Elias enjoys the protection of certain corrupt police officers.” Five officials are currently being investigated.
Two suspects are still wanted in the Lopes murder investigation, Crazy Elias and Renato Souza Lopes, alias “Ratinho” (Little Rat). According to the daily “O Globo”, on 9 August a judge ordered that the five suspects already detained in the case be placed in preventive custody. They include Elizeu Felicio de Souza, alias “o Zeu”, Angelo Ferreira da Silva (“o Primo”), Reinaldo Amaral de Jesos (“Kadê”), Fernando Sátyro da Silva (“o Frei”) and Claudino dos Santos Coelho (“Xuxa”). This was done at the request of the two investigating magistrates in charge of the case, Vivian Tavares Henriques and Patrícia Mothé Glioche, to ensure they would not be released. The five face charges of theft, drug trafficking, homicide and “concealment of a body”.
TV Globo journalist Lopes was killed on the night of 2 to 3 June while gathering information on the use of child prostitutes by drug dealers in the Vila del Cruzeiro shanty town, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Dealers recognized him as he was shooting footage with a micro-camera.
According to two of the detained suspects, he was tortured and then finished off with a machete by the local drug baron, Crazy Elias. His body was then burned. Charred human remains found on 5 July in a clandestine cemetery in the Grota shanty town have been formally identified as those of Lopes.
