JURISTS CALL FOR INQUIRY ON BRAZIL TORTURES

BY A STAFF REPORTER
REJECTING the Brazilian Government's claim that it does not torture political prisoners, the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva has called upon the Brazilian Minister of Justice to open "all places of imprisonment" to a public investigation.
It suggests that the investigation should be held by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organisation of American States. The commission has also asked that "facilities be given immediately to the International Committee of the Red Cross and to Amnesty International to visit all places of imprisonment or detention." Its request was sent to the Brazilian Minister of Justice after it had published a report on July 22 of police repression and torture inflicted on political prisoners in Brazil. The torture was described as a "systematic and scientifically developed practice."
ATTACKS BY DOGS It estimated that there were now some 12,000 political prisoners in Brazil, of which about 1,000 had been tortured.
The commission listed among the methods used electric shock to all the most sensitive parts of the body, attacks by trained dogs, punctures with hot needles, beatings, semi-suffocation in excrement and several forms of moral torture. It also reported the rape of women.
It alleged that American experts in military schools in Brazil and the Panama Canal Zone were implicated in the development of methods of torture. It described the situation in Brazil as one of "latent civil war." It blamed "oligarchies of the country and foreign economic concerns, notably American, Japanese, German and Swiss," for taking part in the repression in order to protect their investments. President Medici admitted for the first time on July 24 the existence of "death squads", vigilante groups who have killed petty criminals in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and elsewhere. The squads are
believed to include policemen.
A Government statement said the President "censures and condemns .. . the so-called death squads that commit murder and other barbarous acts under the pretext of eliminating petty offenders."
Church screen to foil vandals
AGLASS and aluminium screen coifing £850 has been installed in St. Joseph's Church, Bolton, to foil thieves. A bronze crucifix was stolen from the church recently. Two doors in the screen can be locked, but there is enough space at the back for people to use the church when they are closed.
Fr. James Culkin, the parish priest, said: "The f.850 was worth it. Vandals will be kept out in the cold."