Brazil Truth Commission probing crimes under dictatorship urges reform of today's police force

Published January 08, 2015

An extensive report by Brazil's National Truth Commission has drawn a direct link between the human rights abuses committed under the 1964-1985 dictatorship and the summary executions and acts of torture by police today.

In its 2,000-page-long report, the commission said that while such practices "no longer take place within the context of political repression" they "are not foreign to the reality of contemporary Brazil."

The report says impunity in today's police results from the fact that perpetrators of crimes under the dictatorship have gone unpunished. A 1979 amnesty law prevents prosecutions of dictatorship-era political crimes.

The report recommends the demilitarization of the states' so-called "military police" departments, which were created under the dictatorship.

Military police officers are blamed for much of the police violence.

The report was released Wednesday.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/brazil-truth-commission-probing-crimes-under-dictatorship-urges-reform-of-todays-police-force