AI is disturbed by reports of the killing of Erivan Jose da Silva, aged 14, and Jose Fernandes de Almeida, aged 15, on 5 May 1992 in Lagarto, Sergipe state, in circumstances indicating extrajudicial execution. They were reportedly abducted by three men, two of whom were allegedly military police officers. Their bodies were found on 6 May 1992, bearing signs of severe torture. Two police officers and a local landowner were charged with the killings; one police officer has reportedly escaped from custody but the other two men remain detained. As elsewhere in Brazil, the killing of street children in Sergipe has become a major human rights concern; most of the victims are black male adolescents. Details of the killings of four other children in 1990 are included.
