Some of the bodies from a Rio de Janeiro police raid that left more than 20 alleged drug traffickers dead show signs of torture and summary execution, a lawyer for Brazil's bar association said Thursday.
Police have faced accusations of using excessive force during the operation Tuesday in the slum of Vila Cruzeiro.
Evidence from the scene has raised concerns that some of the dead were tortured and killed in cold blood, according to the head of the Brazilian Order of Attorneys' human-rights commission for Rio, Rodrigo Mondego.
"We saw one body with a white powder that looked like cocaine covering its face. Whoever killed this person smeared it all over his face and may have forced him to eat it. It's an act of torture," Mondego told AFP.
"We also suspect a large number of summary executions. Witnesses have told us men who had surrendered to the police were then shot in the woods" above the hillside slum, he said.
Police say they were met with heavy gunfire in Vila Cruzeiro, where their objective was to track down gang leaders from other parts of Brazil allegedly hiding out in the slum.
The operation left at least 26 people dead, including a hairdresser hit by a stray bullet, according to the latest toll from health authorities.
Police put the death toll at 23.
Mondego said the number itself raised concerns about possible summary executions.
"If you look at statistics from around the world, you'll never see a firefight where more than 20 people are killed on one side and none on the other," he said.
Brazilian prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible human-rights violations during the operation.
It was the second-deadliest such raid in Rio history, after another in May 2021 that left 28 people dead -- 27 alleged drug traffickers and one policeman -- in the slum of Jacarezinho.
President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday the police involved in the latest operation were "warriors" who had "neutralized at least 20 delinquents."
