Six civil police officers, instructors of the Rapid Intervention Group (GIR) of the Civil Police of Mato Grosso, allegedly subjected criminal police officer MJ (name omitted for security purposes) to psychological and physical torture sessions, on March 3 of this year, in Colonia Penal Agrovila das Palmeiras, which is 90 km from Cuiabá. The case was reported by the police in a police report registered on March 4.
Torture would, according to MJ, be retaliation. In November 2022, the police officer made a first Police Report at the Women’s Police Station in Cuiabá, against José Gomes, manager of the Assistant Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SAAP), for sexual harassment.
“They tortured me last night, they put a blindfold on my eyes and threw gas on me. They said they did that because I had filed a police report against José Gomes. They burned my face and my mouth, threw gas on me, they tortured me”, says the policewoman in the Bulletin in which she denounces the instructors’ aggression.
In another excerpt, the police officer explains the motivation of the crime. “I registered the BO against him (José Gomes) for sexual harassment, for having put his hands on me, on my body. Once he started spying on me taking a shower in the bathroom. Another time he went to the window to see the people (female police officers) change naked clothes.”
:: RN: After 9 days of attacks, the federal government decides to donate cameras for use in criminal agents ::
The Civil Police reported that “it removed the six civil police officers from public functions and opened an investigation to investigate the crime of torture practiced, in theory, by the criminal police officers against a criminal police officer”. The police officers worked in the Mato Grosso Penitentiary System.
The case reverberated and state deputy Valdir Barranco (PT-MT) sent a letter to the Secretary of Public Security of Mato Grosso (SESP-MT), César Augusto de Camargo Roveri, asking for answers about the episode of torture within the corporation.
Entrance to the Agrovila das Palmeiras Penal Colony, where MJ was tortured / Photo: Sesp-MT
“We demand strong action from the Public Security Secretariat of Mato Grosso, mainly in punishing those involved in the case. It is inappropriate for a crime of torture, abuse and sexual harassment to happen in the backyard of the state government. We demand that measures be taken by the Mauro Mendes administration The State has a duty to guarantee the safety of all female officers. However, it seems that this is not happening even within public security institutions, much less outside them. How long will women have to be subjected to crimes like this, committed by your superiors?” asked Barranco, in an interview with Brazil in fact.
According to the parliamentarian, SESP-MT and secretary César Augusto de Camargo Roveri have not yet responded to the letter. In a note to Brazil in factthe folder reported that: “Determined the immediate suspension of the course of the Rapid Intervention Group (GIR) at the time the police report was drawn up by the criminal police; investigate the complaint; and reinforced the duty of the Police Station for the Defense of Women to assist in the hearings.”
Editing: Nicolau Soares
