any ill-treatment has to be promptly reported to a judge.

an arrested citizen could be judged after three months.

any police questioning ought to happen in the presence of 
a judge.

a detainee should be heard by a judge within a short period 
of time.

vulnerable detainees have to be assessed by medical staff as 
soon as possible.

by Maria Laura Canineu
February 3, 2014<br><br>
A person who is arrested has a right to be brought promptly 
before a judge. This is a longstanding and fundamental principle 
of international law, crucial for ensuring that the person’s arrest, 
treatment, and any ongoing detention are lawful.
Yet, until now, Brazil has not respected this right. Detainees 
often go months before seeing a judge. For instance, in São Paulo 
state, which houses 37 percent of Brazil’s total prison population, 
most detainees are not brought before a judge for at least three 
months. The risk of ill-treatment is often highest during the 
initial stages of detention, when police are questioning a suspect. 
The delay makes detainees more vulnerable to torture and other 
serious forms of mistreatment by abusive police officers.
In 2012, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and 
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 
reported that it had received “repeated and consistent accounts of 
torture and ill-treatment” in São Paulo and other Brazilian states, 
“committed by, in particular, the military and civil police.” The 
torture had allegedly occurred in police custody or at the moment 
of arrest, on the street, inside private homes, or in hidden outdoor 
areas, and was described as “gratuitous violence, as a form of 
punishment, to extract confessions, and as a means of extortion.”
In addition to violating the rights of detainees, these abusive 
practices make it more difficult for the police to establish the 
kind of public trust that is often crucial for effective crime 
control. These practices undermine legitimate efforts to promote 
public security and curb violent crime, and thus have a negative 
impact on Brazilian society as a whole.
The right to be brought before a judge without unnecessary 
delay is enshrined in treaties long ago ratified by Brazil, including 
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 
and the American Convention on Human Rights. The United 
Nations Human Rights Committee, which is responsible for 
interpreting the ICCPR, has determined that the delay between 
the arrest of an accused and the time before he is brought before 
a judicial authority “should not exceed a few days,” even during 
states of emergency.
Other countries in Latin America have incorporated this right 
into their domestic law. For instance, in Argentina, the federal 
Criminal Procedure Code requires that in cases of arrest without 
a judicial order, the detainee must be brought to a competent 
judicial authority within six hours.
In contrast, Brazil’s criminal procedure code requires that 
when an adult is arrested in flagrante and held in police custody, 
only the police files of the case need to be presented to the judge 
within 24 hours, not the actual detainee. Judges evaluate the 
legality of the arrest and make the decision about whether to 
order continued detention or other precautionary measures based 
solely on the written documents provided by the police.
The code establishes a maximum of 60 days for the first 
judicial hearing with the detainee, but does not explicitly say 
when this period begins. In practice, this often means that 
police in Brazil can keep people detained, with formal judicial 
authorization, for several months, without giving the detainee a 
chance to actually see a judge.
According to the code, the only circumstance in which police 
need to bring a person before the judge immediately applies to 
cases of crimes not subject to bail in which arresting officer was 
not able to exhibit the arrest order to the person arrested at the 
time of arrest. Otherwise, the detainee may also not see a judge 
for several months.

tem seus direitos garantidos pelo ICCPR, que segue o código 
de processo penal brasileiro.

deverá pagar fiança para que possa cumprir pena 
domiciliar.

será julgado a partir de 60 dias decorridos da data de prisão.

deverá ter sua documentação policial enviada ao juiz dentro 
de 24 horas.

Questões de Inglês - Policial Militar - Aluno Oficial