Brazilian sociologist threatened at gunpoint after criticising police

24 Jul 13 | Brazil, Politics and Society

A Brazilian sociologist says he was threatened at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro last week, after he gave a newspaper interview criticising police action in recent popular demonstrations.

Paulo Baía says he left home around seven o’clock last Friday, 19 July, to take a walk in Flamengo Park, when two armed men wearing balaclavas and sunglasses  put him into an unmarked car with tinted windows.

“They told me I should give no more interviews like the one I gave today to Globo and that I shouldn’t say anything else ever again about the Military Police because, if I did, it would be the last interview I would give in my life”, Baía told Globo newspaper.

Globo printed Baía’s interview on the same day he was flash kidnapped. In the article, the sociologist from Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University (UFRJ) analysed groups that acted more violently during demonstrations that happened days before at Leblon, a higher-class area in the south side of Rio. He was critical of police action towards protesters.

“Police saw crimes being committed and did nothing. Police’s message was this: now I’m going to beat everybody up”, he told Globo on the interview.

Baía says he was eventually left at Cinelândia, a public square in Rio, 20 minutes after he was kidnapped. He says guns were not pointed at him, but his kidnappers made them visible the entire time.

The sociologist is wary of alleging that his kidnappers are policemen, as he says that they may be imposters attempting to make a case against the military police.

Later on Friday Baía met Rio State attorney general Marfran Vieira, who said that both the Public Ministry and the Civil Police would check images taken by CCTV cameras at Flamengo Park and Cinelândia.

“This was an attempt to shut down an important voice in the political scene and ends up harming the democratic state based on the rule of law”, said Vieira.

Popular demonstrations that started on early June recently became more violent in Rio, where some protesters have  targeted journalists and media outlets, and have also vandalised businesses.

Past Event: New World (Dis)Order – What do Turkey, Russia and Brazil tell us about freedom?

19 Jul 13 | Brazil, Campaigns, India, Russia, Volume 42.02 Summer 2013

Index, in partnership with the European Council on Foreign Relations, held a debate launching the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine looking at the recent protests in Turkey, Russia and Brazil and what they tell us about public attitudes to freedom and rights.

The discussion explored the difficulties in protecting freedom of speech when political and social power is shifting across the globe. Panelists included Index CEO Kirsty Hughes, ECFR Senior Policy Fellow Anthony Dworkin, Keith Best, CEO of Freedom From Torture, and Turkish journalist and writer Ece Temelkuran.

Temelkuran, who has been a vocal critic of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spoke about the decline in media freedom and credibility since the start of anti-government protests in the country:

 

 

Dworkin, meanwhile, spoke about anti-government protests, and how they play into the shift in power on the global stage, and also reflect a loss of faith in the democratic process:

 

 

 

Index CEO Kirsty Hughes argued that democracies must work hard to protect free speech, especially when we’ve moved towards a multipolar world:

 

 

 

 

Keith Best, from Freedom from Torture, argued that the undermined authority of western powers has also meant a rise in impunity for torture:

 

The panel also discussed the role of technology in shifting the balance of power globally, after an audience member asked whether or not “bottom up politics are weakening the institutions of the state.”:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a range of in-depth reports and articles on journalism, freedom of speech, censorship and arts check out the latest issue of the magazine here. Be sure to follow @IndexEvents for more updates on our exciting events and discussions