voiceofreason
Senior News Editor since 2011
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/brazil-teenager-whipped-stealing-chocolate
Video of black teen whipped for stealing chocolate sparks outrage in Brazil
Footage of gagged child prompts comparisons to treatment of black people during three centuries of slavery
Tue 3 Sep 2019 18.59 EDT
Naked and whimpering, his trousers around his ankles, the black teenage boy jerks and howls with pain as he is whipped with electric cable.
“Are you going to come back?” asks one of his tormentors. The youth shakes his head, unable to speak because he has been gagged.
Even by Brazilian standards of racism and cruelty, the whipping of the boy after he was caught stealing four bars of chocolate from a São Paulo supermarket has caused deep shock.
Cellphone footage of the boy’s ordeal has been widely shared, and many – including the detective investigating the case – have drawn comparisons with the country’s treatment of black people during three centuries of slavery.
The youth said he was stopped after leaving the supermarket by guards who found he had stolen chocolate. “They tied him up and whipped him until he promised to not do it again,” de Souza said, adding that the crime of torture carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
The youth, who has not been named, told TV Globo the guards threatened him.
“They said if I spoke to anyone, they would kill me,” he said, adding it was the third time he had been assaulted by the same two security guards after stealing from the supermarket.
In a statement, Ricoy said the two security guards from a subcontracted company were no longer working at the supermarket. “We were shocked by the gratuitous and meaningless torture on a teenage victim,” it said. “We will give all the support needed.”
Video of black teen whipped for stealing chocolate sparks outrage in Brazil
Footage of gagged child prompts comparisons to treatment of black people during three centuries of slavery
Tue 3 Sep 2019 18.59 EDT
Naked and whimpering, his trousers around his ankles, the black teenage boy jerks and howls with pain as he is whipped with electric cable.
“Are you going to come back?” asks one of his tormentors. The youth shakes his head, unable to speak because he has been gagged.
Even by Brazilian standards of racism and cruelty, the whipping of the boy after he was caught stealing four bars of chocolate from a São Paulo supermarket has caused deep shock.
Cellphone footage of the boy’s ordeal has been widely shared, and many – including the detective investigating the case – have drawn comparisons with the country’s treatment of black people during three centuries of slavery.
The youth said he was stopped after leaving the supermarket by guards who found he had stolen chocolate. “They tied him up and whipped him until he promised to not do it again,” de Souza said, adding that the crime of torture carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
The youth, who has not been named, told TV Globo the guards threatened him.
“They said if I spoke to anyone, they would kill me,” he said, adding it was the third time he had been assaulted by the same two security guards after stealing from the supermarket.
In a statement, Ricoy said the two security guards from a subcontracted company were no longer working at the supermarket. “We were shocked by the gratuitous and meaningless torture on a teenage victim,” it said. “We will give all the support needed.”