The detentions of at least two community journalists and attacks on at least two other reporters covering evictions from a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have generated criticisms against the Military Police in this city who are accused of violating freedom of expression.
On the morning of Oct. 1, René Silva, founder and editor of the newspaper Voz da Comunidade (Community Voice), and photographer Renato Moura arrived to the Skol community in the Alemão favela to cover the eviction of residents by the Military Police, according to newspaper O Globo.
However, when Moura began recording alleged assaults by police he was arrested by the police who accused him of disobedience, Silva said, according to O Globo. Silva, who was also broadcasting live via his cell phone, began recording Moura’s arrest, which prompted a police officer to take his equipment.
Then he was handcuffed, while another officer pepper-sprayed in his eyes, according to what Silva told the newspaper. Silva was charged with contempt of authority and trespassing, according to The Guardian.
His arrest was reported by another community journalist who was at the eviction and broadcast it live through the Facebook page of the Papo Reto Collective, Agência Brasil reported.
Although the two journalists were released in the afternoon, authorities said that they will still be linked to the investigation into these crimes and must appear in court, Extra reported.
Silva is one of the most recognized journalists and activists in the area. At just 11 years of age, he began his newspaper Community Voice. The publication’s popularity increased when Silva got a computer he used to report live and via Twitter what was happening in the favela, usually with a focus on police operations.
Forbes magazine of Brazil previously chose Silva as part of a group of young people under 30 who were examples of “a team that is reinventing the country,” according to Agência Brasil.
The arrests occur in a context of recent complaints by community journalists of censorship and threats to freedom of expression by state agents, police and drug traffickers, said Agência Brasil and Portal Comunique-se.
Amnesty International Brazil said the case was "a clear intimidation and serious threat to the right to freedom of expression."
The organization stressed that the work of journalists from Community Voice and other groups is important to monitor and report human rights violations so that their security is a priority of government forces.
The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji for its acronym in Portuguese) also rejected these arrests, which it described as an attack on press freedom that violates the right to information, according to an Oct. 2 statement.
"The equipment of a journalist can never be taken under any hypothesis. The life of a communications professional cannot be put at risk. These are unacceptable practices in a democratic state," it wrote.
The organization also denounced the cases of two other journalists who were targets of police actions while covering the eviction. As reported, Maurício Ferro of O Globo was the object of at least three shots from police officers who saw that Ferro was recording aggressions from police against a community resident. The journalist was not hurt because he was able to escape.
According to O Globo, the state prosecutor of Rio de Janeiro will request the opening of a Police-Military investigation to look into the action of the police against the reporter.
Also, Abraji reported the case of photojournalist Carlos Coutinho who was hit by two rubber bullets after being identified as a member of the Collective Papo Reto
"Abraji urges the identification of those responsible for such violations and the application of appropriate punishment. Impunity only serves to support illegalities like these," the organization said.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
