STJ releases accused black man based on photo recognition

The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) ordered the release today (10) of a black man who was accused in 62 cases based on photographic recognition. With the decision, Paulo Alberto da Silva Costa, 35, should be released immediately. Since 2020, he has been imprisoned in the Cotrim Neto Public Prison, in Japeri, Rio de Janeiro. According to the Public Defender’s Office of Rio, which acted in the case, Paulo Alberto had no criminal record, was never arrested in the act, but was pointed out as a suspect of crimes. In the decision, the ministers of the Third Section of the court unanimously voted for the release of the man on the understanding that the charges against him were based on faulty photographic recognition. According to the defender, Paulo was not heard by the police in any of the cases, and the conclusion that he participated in crimes was based on photos of suspects posted at the entrance to a police station and on the recognition of photos from social networks of unknown origin. According to the criminal defense coordinator of the Rio defender office, Lucia Helena Barros, eight out of ten people who have been unjustly arrested are black. “Cases of errors in photographic recognition end up causing unfair arrests and convictions, in addition to reinforcing the selectivity of our penal system”, she concluded.

Agência Brasil