Security Secretary promises strict investigations into dancer's death

Rio de Janeiro's Security Secretary, José Mariano Beltrame, said he is keeping a close eye on the investigations into the death of dancer Douglas Rafael Pereira da Silva, who was found dead in Pavão-Pavãozinho, a slum community in South Rio de Janeiro. In a press conference in Brasília on Wednesday (Apr. 23), Beltrame emphasized that he wants to speed up the investigations.

“We will monitor the case to the strictest standards and disclose [the findings] publicly with the utmost transparency. I want to solve this case as soon as possible so we can keep up our efforts protecting 9 million people with 9,000 policemen in areas historically dominated by drug trafficking,” the secretary said.

Beltrame said no shell casings were found near the boy's corpse, so the investigators are unable to match them against the weapons of ten police officers involved in a drug raid in the community. Four of them were heard by investigators and allowed to leave with their weapons.

In her testimony on Wednesday (23), Douglas's mother, Maria de Fátima da Silva, told the police there were cuts and signs of beating and boot trampling on his body.

“I'm convinced that he was tortured. He was badly hurt. Something pierced him in the chest and caused internal bleeding. There were signs of boot trampling all over,” she said.

According to Fátima, residents reported hearing Douglas scream some time between late Monday (21) evening and the early hours of Tuesday, as if he was being tortured.

The Civil Police confirmed that the dancer was shot, but the Forensic Institute (IML) vaguely reported that Douglas had died from a lung perforation.

Douglas's body will be buried on Thursday (Apr. 24).

Translated by Mayra Borges