Rio de Janeiro state deputy Marcelo Freixo has reported to the Special Secretariat for Human Rights in the Office of the President that he has received death threats while chairing the Human Rights Commission of the Rio de Janeiro State Assembly (ALERJ). Various civil society organizations have also expressed their concern for his safety.

Freixo is a well known defender of human rights in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He has worked in the prison system as a coordinator of educational projects and before his election as state deputy he was one of the contributors to Justiça Global, a human rights NGO.

In his present role he proposed the creation of a committee of parliamentary inquiry (CPI) to investigate the action of the militias in the state of Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of 2006 - a proposal only approved following the episode in May 2008 in which journalists from the newspaper O Dia were kidnapped and tortured. The CPI, approved unanimously by ALERJ in June 2008, has since been chaired by Freixo.

Regarding the international campaign by NGOs on the need to strengthen measures against militias in Rio de Janeiro, Freixo told the Office of the President that he was grateful for the concern shown by civil society for his life and physical well-being. He stressed, however, that despite the pressing need to face both the economic and political causes of the power of the militias in the state, he considers himself well protected by the state protection programme in which he is included, and that there is no need to include him in a federal government programme.

Source: Human Rights Secretariat, Ministry of External Relations