Rio: HRW calls for independent investigation of the 2025 police operation
A new investigation alleges body-camera tampering and serious evidential gaps. Its findings and allegations are not a court judgment.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has renewed its call for an independent investigation into the 28 October 2025 police operation in Rio de Janeiro, in research published on 28 October 2026. The new development is the publication of an investigation one year after the operation.
What the organisation alleges
HRW says it examined more than 4,000 hours of police body-camera footage, autopsy reports, official files and residents’ visual material, alongside interviews with witnesses, relatives and experts. It says the footage it received captured none of the fatal shootings and identifies cases of covered lenses, cameras left in vehicles and depleted batteries.
According to the organisation, failures to preserve evidence and analysis of wounds provide serious indications of excessive force and potentially intentional killings. These are HRW’s conclusions and allegations, rather than a final judicial finding of individual guilt.
Questions that remain
The investigation calls for scrutiny of both officers’ actions and planning and command decisions. It says 19 officers had been charged with offences including breaking into homes, theft and camera tampering, but that, at the time of writing, none had been charged with unlawful use of force. Pending trial does not amount to conviction.
Authorities had presented the operation as action against Comando Vermelho. HRW calls on federal and state prosecutors to conduct a full, independent investigation and establish responsibility where supported by evidence. Publication of the report does not itself constitute a new prosecutorial or judicial decision.
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