Brazil: Fear for safety / threats / torture or other ill-treatment

Index Number: AMR 19/004/2009
Date Published: 25 February 2009
Categories: Brazil

On 12 February, around 25 civil police officers stormed the Guarani Kaiowa Indigenous village of Passo Piraju, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, south-western Brazil, with orders to search for stolen goods. The police threatened and verbally abused the villagers, damaging their homes and the village school, and taking money and household goods. Four villagers, Carlito de Oliveira, Nilson Duarte, Estevão Duarte and Placida de Oliveira, are detained in two separate police stations in the area after being arrested during the police raid. They are at risk of being tortured or ill-treated in custody.