London, Aug. 3 : Campaign group Amnesty International, in a startling revelation on Monday, stated how Brazil’s military police have been responsible for more than 1,500 deaths in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the last five years.
According to statistics released by Amnesty, nearly 16 percent of the total homicides registered in the city in the last five years took place at the hands of on-duty police officers.
In 2012, more than 50 percent of homicide victims were aged between 15 and 29, and 77 percent of them were black, the figures suggest.
The pressure group stated of having found evidence wherein police killings have often been illegal, with officers shooting suspects who had surrendered or had been wounded.
Amnesty International also said that incidents of police killings were rarely investigated and those responsible did not often face justice.
According to BBC, there has been no response so far from Brazil’s military police.
The reserve troops and ancillary forces of the Brazilian Army had earlier said the number of officers killed was also very high.
In Rio de Janeiro alone, 114 police were killed in 2014, according to the civilian police union Sindpol. (ANI)