The plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumed today (8) the trial of a request for the freedom of a young black man who claims to have been approached and arrested by the police based on the color of his skin. The session started around 2:30 pm. So far, the trial score, which began last week, is 3 votes to 1 for the rejection of habeas corpus. Minister Edson Fachin, the case’s rapporteur, voted to annul the man’s conviction. He judged that there had been so-called racial profiling, when the police approach is based on racial stereotypes, a measure considered illegal by him. Then, ministers André Mendonça, Alexandre de Moraes and Dias Toffoli opened the divergence. In the understanding of the magistrates, the concrete case does not allow proving the occurrence of racial profiling, although they agree on the need to combat the phenomenon. The lawsuit deals with the case of a young man approached on a corner in Bauru (SP), being caught by police with 1.58 grams of cocaine in his pocket. To Justice, the prisoner said he was a drug user. He was sentenced to 7 years and 11 months in prison for drug trafficking. The sentence was reduced to 2 years and 11 months in the second instance. In the description given by the police officer responsible for the incident, the agent said that he “saw in the distance a black individual who was in a typical scene of drug trafficking, as he was standing by the curb on a public road, and that a vehicle was parked beside him.”
Agência Brasil
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