Didn't commit any crime yet got a 170-year sentence, and spent so many years in jail

A man in Brazil was sentenced to 170 years in prison for a crime he never committed. He spent 12 years of his life behind bars for that crime. Carlos Edmilson da Silva was arrested in the Brazilian city of Barueri and charged with multiple gruesome rapes.

Justice should be given but in this process of giving justice, sometimes justice is not done to the person whose entire life is spent behind bars just because of being accused without suspicion. It is no less than a struggle for someone who becomes a headline in the news and then lives his life as normal again.

One such story has come to light from Brazil, where a man was sentenced to 170 years in prison for a crime he never committed, and for that crime, he spent 12 years of his life behind bars. Carlos Edmilson da Silva was arrested in the Brazilian city of Barueri and charged with multiple gruesome rapes.

Arrested at the age of 24

Carlos Edmilson da Silva was convicted on the first of 12 counts at the age of 24. By the end of the trial, he was sentenced to 170 years in prison, where after he had spent 12 years in prison, a DNA report revealed that someone else was responsible for the crimes. Da Silva was released earlier this month after the DMA report came out. At the time when he was taken into custody, he was 24 years old and now he is 36 years old, after losing so many years of his life, he is facing the struggle to live the same life as before. Trying to live.

Sentenced to 12 years

Da Silva's lawyer said the police procedure that led to his arrest is still used by Brazilian detectives and accepted by judges. Da Silva's 12-year sentence for rape was all based on photo identification, in which victims were shown their mugshots (the picture police take of a criminal) and asked if they believed That he was the culprit.

However now, there are demands to eliminate this technique. In 2023, Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ) – the country's top court for non-constitutional cases – annulled 281 verdicts in which the accused were wrongly convicted due to mistakes in photo identification.

On what basis was the punishment given?

Now you might be wondering how the police would have gotten Da Silva's mugshot. In 2006, da Silva was arrested for robbery for the first time, and his photograph became part of a police mugshot album. After which, in the years 2006 and 2007, four women were raped in Barueri, 30 km from Sao Paulo. According to da Silva's lawyer Flavia Rahal, one of the victims was shown a photograph of da Silva and mistakenly identified him as his attacker; due to the victim's identification, da Silva spent three years in prison. The DNA test did not show that he was innocent and he was released.

Released on 16th May

During his trial, public prosecutor Wagner dos Santos Queiroz argued that rapists and thieves have "normal physical appearance and appearance". That is why there must have been a mistake in identification. On May 16, the STJ ordered da Silva's release and dropped all charges against him. Supreme Court Justice Schietti, who did not attend the trial but studied the case, said the photographs should be used only as a last resort. But in many cases, the detective only shows the picture of the person he believes to be guilty.

Where is Silva now

Da Silva's lawyer said that since his release, da Silva has moved away from the city. The lawyer said that the sadness of this case is that 12 women were raped and when the state took action, it punished an innocent person, this does not give justice to anyone and ultimately the society loses. Da Silva said after his release that he would "get a job and make up for lost time."