13
24.
That Brazil is the guarantor of the life and physical integrity of the inmates of
the Urso Branco Prison. Therefore, it has the duty to adopt all the measures necessary
to protect them and it must refrain, under all circumstances, from acting in such a
manner that the life and physical integrity of said persons are injured in an unjustified
way.
25.
That under the circumstances of the instant case, the measures that are
adopted must include those directly oriented to protect the rights to life and physical
integrity of the beneficiaries, both in their relationship among themselves and with the
State agents. Particularly, it is indispensable that the State continues to immediately
adopt the measures necessary to completely eradicate the risks of violent death and
serious attempts against physical integrity, preventing its agents from committing
unjustified acts against life and physical integrity.
*
*
*
26.
That with regard to the investigations and proceedings instituted due to the
facts of violence and the detention conditions at the Penitentiary, the State pointed out
that in November 2008, at the seat of the Comisión Especial del Consejo de Defensa
de los Derechos de la Persona Humana (Special Commission of the Defense Council of
the Rights of the Human Person, hereinafter the “CDDPH”), created in 2004 to
supervise the implementation of these provisional measures, a Subcommittee was
constituted in order to monitor the development of the police investigations and the
judicial and administrative proceedings. Furthermore, a system of process verification
was created through a webpage, so that any person interested could follow-up the
development of the police and administrative investigations related with the Urso
Branco Prison. Additionally, the State, inter alia, expressed that:
i)
there are approximately 78 police investigations in progress before the
Delegacia Especializada em Delitos Cometidos no Sistema Penitenciário (Police
Department Specialized in Crimes Committed within the Penitentiary System,
hereinafter “Penitentiary Crimes Department”). Of the 102 existing criminal
processes, eighteen have been completed, ten of them with an acquittal and
eight with a conviction. In the aggregate, eleven persons were convicted.
Likewise, there are fifteen disciplinary administrative processes before the
Corregedoria-Geral da Secretaria de Justiça de Rondônia (Judicial
Administrative Department of the state of Rondônia) for alleged facts occurred
within the premises of Urso Branco. From all of them, seven have been
completed and three entailed the application of punishments to the investigated
civil servants. Furthermore, there are approximately fifty civil actions for
damages for facts which took place at Urso Branco;
ii)
as to the facts occurred in January 2002 at the Penitentiary which ended
with the death of 27 people, the State pointed out that seventeen defendants
shall be prosecuted in a jury trial (in Portuguese, “Tribunal do Júri”), expected
to take place in February, 2010, which shall be broadcasted live over the
Internet. As to the other four defendants, the case file has been set aside and
the proceedings thereof continue regardless of the former;
iii)
as to the facts which took place in April, 2004, the Ministerio Público
[Office of the Public Prosecutor] filed a criminal complaint against 42 defendants