Duda Salabert and Aide Assaulted While Recording Suspected Illegal Mining

Overview

• The federal deputy Duda Salabert and her aide were attacked near an access road to Nova Lima while trying to film a suspected area of illegal mineral extraction.
• Witnesses in the police report say several men returned to the site, chased the pair down an embankment, seized their phones and physically assaulted them.
• The aide was kicked repeatedly and had his phone taken and thrown, and Salabert suffered abrasions and a dislocated right shoulder and received hospital treatment.
• The two reached nearby Copasa facilities to call the Polícia Militar, which searched the area but did not find the suspects and later recorded the victims’ medical statements.
• The seizure and destruction of both phones may hinder evidence of the suspected mining and the attack, raising concerns about obstruction of environmental oversight in Minas Gerais.