EXECUTIONS

611Cases of Extrajudicial,Summary or ArbitraryExecutions in Brazil1.0. PARÁPA1.1. Hider Sirnei dos SantosCoelho, 16 year old student.On April 3, 1999, in Marabá, Hider Sirnei dos Santos Coelho wasaccused of stealing the VCR of the friend of police officer Valdenor Miguelde Freitas. Three days later Military Police officers Valdenor Freitas andJessé Medina da Cruz (a.k.a "Jacunda") seized one of the accused,Hidevaldo, and tortured him. The police threatened to kill Hidevaldo, aswell as two other young men,Hider and Johny, who were also accused ofthe theft.On April 9, the two police officers went to Hilder's house andorder him to go to a house on José Cursino de Abreu street, in Marabá.Hilder went to the house with his girlfriend, Rosilene, and tried to talk toofficer Jessé, denying any involvement in the theft. The officers toldRosilene to go home so they could talk alone with the victim. Rosilene leftand hid near the house, listening to the conversation. Moments later sheheard shouts and saw the officers bring Hilder out of the house, where theykicked, punched and pistol whipped him. After this they shot six rounds atthe victim, killing him.Rosilene hurried to get help. When she returned to the scene sheencountered a crowd and officer Valdenor, who probably thought no onehad seen the murder. Rosilene shouted out that Valdenor had killed thevictim.A doctor reported that Hider had been shot four times and alsosuffered wounds to the head.The prosecution of the murder is still in the initial stage. OfficersValdenor and Jessé were imprisoned on June 13, 1999. On November 9,1999 the Public Ministry accused them of homicide. Until now theMarabá district judge has not scheduled the case for jury trial. Due to the