Prosecutors Charge BOPE Officers as Arrests and a Jury Acquittal Underscore Brazil’s Uneven Quest for Accountability

Overview

• The Rio state prosecutor’s office filed qualified homicide charges against BOPE sgt. Daniel Sousa da Silva and lt. Felippe Carlos de Souza Martins over the June killing of 23‑year‑old Herus Mendes during a festa junina, seeking their suspension from duty.
• Body‑cam videos cited by prosecutors show the shooter trying to hand off or manipulate his camera and later stating, “Esse maluco da escada foi comigo,” while recordings also captured officers warning about children near the operation.
• The Public Ministry’s account disputes the Civil Police homicide unit’s conclusion of putative self‑defense, asserting Herus was unarmed, turned away, and shot within roughly a second of a shouted command.
• In Minas Gerais, prosecutors’ final filings in the Laudemir Fernandes case say the fatal shot was not accidental, note the accused Renê Nogueira Júnior searched “gari morto” afterward, and cite messages asking his wife, a police delegate, not to surrender the weapon.
• Elsewhere, police arrested a third suspect tied to the Tocantins pastors’ double homicide, located a homicide and drug‑trafficking fugitive in a luxury condo in Bahia, and detained a suspect in a Pará feminicide, even as a Bahia jury acquitted PM Diego Kollucha in a separate 2023 murder case.