Brazil president unveils police department to address violence against women

In a note released today (May 27), interim President Michel Temer deplored the rape of a 16-year-old girl last weekend in Rio de Janeiro. In the text, Temer announces the creation of a department in the Federal Police to probe into crimes against women.

“It is outrageous that we are forced to witness such barbaric crimes as this in the 21st century,” Temer says.

The Federal Police department will be similar to the Women's Police Station under the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat, and will be designed to gather information at state level and implement actions countrywide. As secretary for security in São Paulo, Michel Temer founded Brazil's first police station exclusively dedicated to women.

“Our government is mobilized, alongside the Rio de Janeiro Public Security Secretariat, to find the perpetrators and punish the rapists as well as those who posted the criminal act online through social media,” the acting president concludes.

The case

The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro has thus far identified four of the men suspected of participating in the crime.  The victim told police she was raped by 33 men.

In her testimony, the teenager recounted she was going to visit her boyfriend in a house at the top of a favela dominated by drug traffickers. Footage published by the supposed attackers on Twitter sparked outrage as it showed the girl unconscious and naked. “Some 30 guys used her,” one of the men admitted.

*Additional reporting by Felipe Pontes

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira