Brazil police accused of planting gun on shot teenager

Five Brazilian policemen have been arrested after mobile phone footage appeared to show an officer placing a gun in the hand of a teenager they had shot dead in a Rio de Janeiro favela. The film, shared on social media, shows policemen standing over 17-year-old Eduardo Victor’s blood-stained body. One of the officers appears to […]

Five Brazilian policemen have been arrested after mobile phone footage appeared to show an officer placing a gun in the hand of a teenager they had shot dead in a Rio de Janeiro favela.
The film, shared on social media, shows policemen standing over 17-year-old Eduardo Victor’s blood-stained body.
One of the officers appears to place a hand-gun in the dead youth’s hand.
Police say they had been attacked and acted in self defence, but the victim’s family say he was killed in cold blood.
The BBC’s Wyre Davies in Rio says police in the city are often accused of administering arbitrary justice against those they consider to be criminals.
A witness in the Providencia favela, or shantytown, told Brazil’s Globo TV network that the victim had surrendered.
“He was armed but he surrendered,” she said. “After he raised his hands, they shot him.”
In the video – shot by a local resident – a policeman places the gun into the dead boy’s hand and fires it into the air, possibly to give the impression that the boy had used it himself, our correspondent says.