Three ex-cops in Brazil draw long sentences over brutal death

A Brazilian court handed down sentences of up to 28 years on Saturday to three former police officers for holding a man in the back of their vehicle and suffocating him with tear gas.

The man's death triggered outrage in a country that is painfully accustomed to police brutality.

The conviction of the three men, with two sentenced to 23 years and the other to 28 years, came after a 12-day trial.

Genivaldo Santos, who was 38 and suffered from schizophrenia, was stopped in May 2022 for riding a motorcycle without a helmet near the town of Umbauba in the northeastern state of Sergipe.

He put up no resistance but police still knocked him down, handcuffed him, and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray, prosecutors say.

He was then put in the back of a police SUV with an activated canister of tear gas as officers held the rear hatch to keep him in.

A video taken by a witness went viral in Brazil.

It showed a thick cloud of tear gas coming out of the car and Santos's legs sticking out from under the hatch and kicking wildly while one officer held the door.

Santos is heard screaming in pain, and a witness yells, "They are going to kill him!"

A jury sentenced one of the former policemen, Paulo Rodolpho Nascimento, to 28 years for aggravated homicide, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The jury asked the judge to rule on the role of the other two -- William Noia and Kleber Freitas -- and he gave them 23 years each for torture resulting in death.

The court said it was an aggravating circumstance that the three men had attacked someone with a disability.

Laura Santos, the victim's sister, welcomed the verdicts.

"It was a satisfactory result, although we are not happy with other people's misfortune," she told the news website G1.

She said she was "calm" but added, "This does not bring happiness."