Brazil: End the unjust case against Diego Felipe
Featured image: demonstration in Rio de Janeiro; Source: A Nova Democracia
A Nova Democracia reports, that on March 20, a demonstration at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice demanded the end of the case against Diego Felipe, a motorcycle taxi driver and hospital`s bearer. He is accused by the Military Police of transporting a disassembled rifle, which was with a passenger carried by the worker.
The first-instance trial against Diego Felipe was held unjustly in July 2023 on the false accusation. The worker was imprisoned for two months in a prison in the municipality of São Gonçalo and is currently on provisional release. Diego’s colleagues and family demand an end to the trial and denounce the criminalization of the people by the old State. The trial in Diego’s case was now postponed to April 1st due to the non-appearance of the police officers who are part of the prosecution.
The demonstration began at noon and was attended by Diego’s friends and family, as well as democratic organizations such as the Brazilian Center for Solidarity with the People (Cebraspo). On the occasion, the protesters held up posters and echoed phrases such as Justice for Diego, Mototáxi is not criminal, Workers are not criminals, it was the Military Police who killed Amarildo.
During the interventions, family members denounced the racist nature of the police in their constant arrests and arbitrary operations against workers living in favelas, pointing out that Diego’s case is not an exception, but rather a rule in a country where 44.5% of prisoners have not yet been judged, according to data from the National Council of Justice (CNJ) in 2022.
The protesters also denounced the double standards used by the justice system of the old State. While it prosecutes, arrests and criminalizes thousands of innocent workers, it acquits and releases the military police officers who kill people in the favelas, as recently occurred with the acquittal of the police officers who murdered the worker Cláudia Ferreira.
