Brazil court says government must compensate victims of stray bullets in police raids

By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA
Associated Press

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — The Brazilian Supreme Court has ruled that the state must compensate victims of stray bullets during military and law enforcement operations. The ruling means that the state is now civilly liable for deaths or injuries resulting from raids by either the police or armed forces, even in cases where the forensics reports are inconclusive. The country’s top court was ruling in a case stemming from the killing of a man by a stray bullet in 2015, during an army action in Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished Mare neighborhood.  The court ordered the federal government to pay $60,000 to his family, who will also receive a lifetime pension and have the victim’s funeral expenses covered.