Press freedom groups have expressed shock at the December 30, 2008 announcement that Cláudio Orlando "O Ratinho" do Nascimento, like Claudino "Xuxa" dos Santos Coelho before him, has been granted a partial release for "good behaviour." The two men, known members of a Rio de Janeiro gang, were sentenced in 2005 to 23 years and six months in prison for the June 2002 murder of TV Globo reporter Tim Lopes.
Lopes was investigating corruption of minors by drug traffickers in the Rio de Janeiro favela of Vila del Cruzeiro when he was abducted and tortured to death. Seven gang members were given sentences ranging from 23 to 28 years in prison for his murder.
"We accept that, after completing a sixth of their sentence, convicts can request partial release, but we think it is utterly inappropriate to grant in this case because of the cruelty of the crime for which "O Ratinho" and "Xuxa" were convicted," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
