A jury has sentenced a police officer convicted in a case of massacre in a Rio de Janeiro suburb to 542 years in prison.
Jose Augusto Moreira Felipe, 42, was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison for each of the 29 people killed in the massacre in 2005. He was also given additional years in prison for the attempted murder of 12 others and criminal conspiracy, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Under Brazilian law, no one can be kept in prison for more than 30 years.
Felipe was the second to be convicted in the case, out of a total of five charged with massacre carried out in the suburb of Nova Iguacu.
Carlos Jorge de Carvalho, the first to be convicted in the case, was also sentenced to the same length of time in prison as Felipe.
The trial lasted three days. After the sentence was read, the relatives of the victims said a prayer and set off fireworks.
Presiding judge Elizabeth Machado Louro described the crime, in which a group of police officers led by Felipe indiscriminately opened fire on a group of people killing many of them, including several children - a "barbarity" that "shocked" the Brazilian people.
Prosecutors initially charged 11 policemen, but the court arraigned five of them.
{{/usCountry}}Prosecutors initially charged 11 policemen, but the court arraigned five of them.
{{/usCountry}}Another three suspects are awaiting trial.