One day after mutilating himself, suspected killer of Sergeant Dias sets fire to mattress

Less than 24 hours after being hospitalized for mutilating himself with a razor in prisonthe 26-year-old man who is a suspect in the murder with a gunshot to the head was hospitalized again this Wednesday (May 1). Sergeant Roger Dias, 29 years old, in January this year. This time, the boy allegedly set fire to a mattress and ended up taking him to the hospital as a “precaution”, according to the State Department of Justice and Public Security (Sejusp).

“He was sent to the Emergency Care Unit (UPA) as a precaution, after setting fire to the mattress in his cell this Wednesday,” the ministry said in a statement. On Tuesday (April 30), the man used a prestobarba razor to cut himself on his arms and legs inside the Nelson Virgínia Penitentiary Complex, in Contagem, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte.

Since his arrest, he has reported being subjected to torture in his cell, which caused a chain transfer in early March. According to Sejusp, after mutilating himself, the inmate was “promptly attended to by the prison’s health team and subsequently taken to the region’s Emergency Care Unit (UPA). He had to undergo surgery to sew stitches and heal the wounds.

Sejusp reinforces that the person being investigated is already stable, with no risk of worsening, and is being monitored by the infirmary at the Nelson Hungary prison. Regarding the allegations of torture, the agency states that it is investigating relationships inside the cell. “An internal investigation procedure will be initiated by the management of the prison unit to administratively investigate what happened,” he informed.

Alleged retaliation inside the cell

The allegations of alleged torture experienced in prison by the suspect of killing the soldier have been monitored by the courts since at least March 8, when it was granted examination of the detainee’s criminal record. The suspect’s defense claims that the client had suffered retaliation in prison by criminal police officers, which justified a prison transfer.

Also according to the lawyer, military police officers had accessed, during the early hours of the morning, the Inspector José Martinho Drumond prison, in Ribeirão das Neves, where the suspect was detained, and allegedly committed assaults.

“They caught my client, dragged him at dawn to an isolated cell, and the other prisoners heard the cries for help. I found out about the attacks from another prisoner, who asked his family to contact me”, reported lawyer Bruno Rodrigues to THE TIME.

Prison transfer

After presenting the defense’s arguments, the judge of the Jury Court authorized the transfer of the prisoner to the Nelson Virgínia prison. Even so, according to lawyer Rodrigues, the suspect continues to suffer retaliation from criminal police officers. While investigating the facts, the Court recommended that the prison unit install cameras in front of the prisoner’s cell, in addition to the corpus delicti examination.

Remember the case

Military Police Sergeant Roger Dias da Cunha, aged 29, was shot during a pursuit of two suspects, on a Friday night (January 5), in the Novo Aarão Reis neighborhood, in the North region of Belo Horizonte. He was hit by three shots. Video from security cameras captured the moment the agent was hit in the head.

According to information from the PM, officers from the 13th Battalion were chasing a car on Avenida Risoleta Neves, when the driver lost control of the steering wheel and crashed into a pole. After the accident, the suspects got out of the car and continued to escape on foot.

One of them was caught by the sergeant. Images from security cameras show the moment when the soldier approaches the suspect and gives the order to stop, but is surprised by the criminal, who pulls out a gun and shoots the police officer at point-blank range. He was out of prison after a Christmas getaway, which motivated a discussion about the benefit at national level.

The video shows that the agent falls afterwards. Then, military personnel arrived at the scene and helped their colleague, who was taken to Hospital João XXIII, in the Center-South region of the capital. But days later, he was confirmed brain dead. The soldier donated the organs.

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