This document reports the death under torture of Mauro Martins Solano, aged 17. He was accused of stealing some electric domestic appliances and was detained on 22 September by agents of the Civil Police near his home in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso. He was subsequently taken to Santa Isabel Police Station where he was allegedly tortured for several hours. Methods of torture used included severe beating and keeping his head under water until near asphyxiation. The police took his body to hospital and told staff there that he had had a heart attack; however the official death certificate states that he died from suffocation by being submerged in water. A statement made by street children to the Cuiaba branch of the MNMMR claims that they are routinely beaten and tortured.
