🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

A photographer who documented the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

A particular victim was discovered headless - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the operation was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and said: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the area, explained he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he remained through the night.

He described that Tuesday night, local residents started looking the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation.

Community members living in Penha organized the discovered victims in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of it all impacted me a lot: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the state stated that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 officers was designed to preventing a gang referred to as Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the overall count of casualties to be 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, alongside another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and serving as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, fuel, liquor smoking products.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and called the security forces killed in the raid as courageous individuals.

However, the count of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

In a media appearance the next day, the official defended the police force.

"There was no objective to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He continued that the situation intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Through a message on social media, he said that particular individuals had been removed of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse