World

Three arrested over killing of Congolese migrant in Brazil

February 02, 2022
Police released a video that showed the Congolese man being beaten to death.
Police released a video that showed the Congolese man being beaten to death.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Three people have been arrested in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro over the murder of a Congolese migrant, a killing that was captured on video and caused public outrage.

Relatives said Moise Kabagambe was attacked at a beach kiosk after asking the manager to pay overdue wages.

Footage released by police shows him being repeatedly beaten by four men with clubs and a baseball bat.

The aggressions continued even as Kabagambe lay motionless on the ground.

The video shows a group of people, including one of the aggressors, trying to revive his lifeless body after the beating.

According to relatives, Kabagambe was demanding the equivalent of £28 ($38) for two days of work at the kiosk when an argument broke out.

Police said two of those arrested had confessed to taking part in the beating, which happened on 24 January at about 22:25 in the well-off Barra da Tijuca area.

Kabagambe had arrived in Brazil in 2011 with his three siblings, fleeing the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"They broke my son's back and neck," Ivana Lay, his mother, told O Globo newspaper. "I fled the DR Congo so we wouldn't be killed, but they killed my son here the same way they do in my country, with punches and kicks, like an animal."

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes called the killing "unacceptable and revolting". — BBC


February 02, 2022
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