MPF agrees with compensation of BRL 128 million for the death of Genivaldo

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) agreed that the Union be ordered to pay BRL 128 million in collective moral damages for the death of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, a black man, who died in May 2022, asphyxiated by two federal highway police officers in a corporation vehicle, in Sergipe. The amount was stipulated in a public civil action filed by Educafro and the Santos Dias Human Rights Center. The entities argue that the episode illustrates the structural racism that affects several institutions, especially the Federal Highway Police (PRF), which is why the moral damage, in this case, has a collective character, regardless of individual damage. The amount requested is based on the compensation paid in the case of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was asphyxiated to death by a police officer who used his knee to press his neck against the asphalt. The crime took place in the US city of Minneapolis, in May 2020. In the case, the corresponding amount in dollars was paid by the municipality to the victim’s family, in an out-of-court settlement. In Brazil, the institutions authoring the action ask that the money be allocated to a fund to combat structural racism. Attorney Martha Carvalho Dias de Figueiredo, who signs the MPF opinion, agreed with this allocation. She wrote that the amount is adequate “taking into account aspects such as the seriousness and repercussion of the facts, as well as the punitive and pedagogical nature of the conviction for moral damages”. Another request, which also received a favorable opinion from the MPF, is that cameras be installed in the vehicles and uniforms of PRF agents, in order to avoid incidents similar to the one that killed Genivaldo. The Public Ministry had already recommended the adoption of the measure. Last month, the PRF accepted the recommendation and opened studies for the adoption of the equipment. In the public civil action, the Union initially declared that the requests were unfounded, claiming that collective moral damage had not been demonstrated, among other arguments. Following the opinion of the MPF, however, the Advocacy-General of the Union (AGU) suggested suspending the process for 60 days, so that an attempt at conciliation can be made in the case, which runs in the 7th Federal Court of Sergipe. In the criminal sphere, the Justice of Sergipe determined, in January, that the three PRF agents involved in the case be submitted to a popular jury for the crimes of torture and triple murder.

Agência Brasil