The UN calls for an independent investigation of the massacre in a Rio de Janeiro favela

Activists and relatives of the victims light candles the day after a police operation that left 25 dead in the Jacarezinho favela of Rio de Janeiro, this Friday. Silvia Izquierdo / AP

Thursday's operation in the favela of Jacarezinho, in the northern part of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, did not reach most of the 21 people that the police planned to arrest for luring minors into drug trafficking.

Of the list, only three were arrested and three others were killed.

The police action resulted in 25 deaths and became the most lethal in the history of the city of Rio and the second largest massacre recorded in that state.

Among the dead were a policeman and 16 residents of Jacarezinho already identified by the Order of Lawyers of Brazil (OAB).

The massacre attracted international attention.

On Friday, the United Nations (UN) called for a "partial and independent" investigation into the massacre.

More information

• 25 dead in the second deadliest police operation in Rio de Janeiro

• Children killed by the police in Rio de Janeiro

UN Human Rights spokesman Rubert Colville told a press conference in Geneva that there is a history of "disproportionate and unnecessary" use of force by Brazilian police. And he warned that his office received "worrying reports according to which, after what happened, the police did not take the necessary measures to preserve the evidence at the crime scene, which could make the investigation difficult." In some images released by the press, it is possible to see policemen carrying the bodies of the dead in sheets, a practice that can ruin key forensic evidence. "We remind the Brazilian authorities that force should only be used in strictly necessary cases and that they must always respect the principles of legality, precaution, necessity and proportionality of lethal force",added the spokesperson.

The OAB on Friday published a list of the names of 16 of the deceased. They are all men between the ages of 18 and 41. The Civil Police has not clarified whether any of them really had a criminal record. However, Police Chief Felipe Curi said Thursday that the dead were all criminals. “There are no suspects here. We have criminals, murderers, and drug dealers. What causes us a lot of pain is the death of our colleague, ”he said. Vice President Hamilton Mourão followed the same line when referring to the victims of the massacre: "All bandits," he said on Friday, upon arriving at the Planalto Palace, the government headquarters in Brasilia. He also compared the situation in Rio to a war. “This is the same as if we were fighting an enemy country. I am almost absolutely sure, I do not have all the data about it,that the dead were the marginalized who were there, armed, facing the force of order. "

According to the Civil Police, six people were arrested on Thursday, and three of them had arrest warrants. The other three were arrested on the spot. If three were killed and three were detained from a list of 21 investigated, what happened to the other 15? Who are they? EL PAÍS also asked the Civil Police, but received no response. In June last year, the Supreme Court limited such large-scale operations during the pandemic. The judges said that they are only allowed in "absolutely exceptional cases" and provided they are duly justified before the Rio Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutors were notified of the operation three hours after it began.

"There are several organizations that seek to prevent police work," said Commissioner Rodrigo Oliveira, "with the" victimization of criminals. "

What they seek, he said, is “to prevent the police from fulfilling their function of being on the good side of society.

Activism is permeated in a series of entities and ideological groups that play against what the Civil Police thinks.

And the police are on the side of society ”.

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