Rappa musician who was shot will file lawsuit against Rio.

O Rappa percussionist Paulo Sérgio Santos Dias, 21, known as Paulo Negueba, will file a compensation lawsuit against the State for having been shot on Friday night as he was leaving home in the Vigário Geral favela (north zone of Rio). According to José Júnior, executive coordinator of cultural group Afro Reggae _formed in 1993 after a massacre left 21 dead in the favela_, the decision was made because Negueba says he is certain he was hit by shots fired by police officers. The musician is also a member of the Afro Reggae band. On Friday, a Bope (Military Police Special Operations Battalion) team carried out an operation in the favela. The following day, the unit commander, Colonel Venâncio Moura, was dismissed by Governor Benedita da Silva (PT). "Although the Military Police says it was attacked by traffickers, he [Negueba] claims it was the police who entered the favela shooting. He saw it. I heard 80 other young people from the community and they all say the same thing," said Júnior. According to him, Negueba is not outraged, but indignant about the incident. "He told the governor [who visited Negueba on Saturday]: every day black people, the poor and favela residents die on Rio's hills. The kids are being exterminated from all sides: by police and by criminals," he said. In a note sent to newspapers, Júnior wrote that police officers said: "Benedita ordered killings, we're killing." But he does not believe it is true. "That's political games to target her," he said. The investigator in charge of the case, Daniel Goulart, of the 38th Police Station, said he intends to hear the percussionist this week. Goulart is investigating whether there were excesses by Bope. Hospitalized at Copa D'Or hospital (Copacabana, south zone), Negueba is expected to leave the semi-intensive care unit tomorrow. His health condition is stable. He is expected to remain in the hospital for another 15 days.

NEW COMMANDER

Public Security Secretary Roberto Aguiar announced today Colonel Sérgio Woolf Meinicke, 49, as the new Bope commander, replacing Moura. Meinicke headed Bope between November 1996 and November 1997, during Marcello Alencar's government (PSDB). He currently commanded the Military Police Superior School. He has been in the force for 28 years. "He is an experienced person, with several specialization courses," said the secretary. Aguiar reported that Meinicke's arrival will coincide with a downsizing of Bope, which has 406 police officers. "I believe that with fewer men, quality will be better," he declared. According to Aguiar, it will be up to the new commander to decide with what staff he will work. PM general commander Colonel Francisco Braz said Meinicke will improve Bope's image. He classified the unit's action in Vigário Geral as "undesirable," as it hit someone not involved with drug trafficking.