A leading candidate for Brazil’s presidency has said police should be given a licence to kill criminals.
Congressman Jair Bolsonaro said criminals cannot be treated as “normal human beings” and that police should be allowed to kill them.
Mr Bolsonaro said: “If he kills 10, 15 or 20 with 10 or 30 bullets each, he needs to get a medal and not be prosecuted.”
He made the comments on Tuesday night on Brazil’s most popular news programme on TV Globo.
Mr Bolsonaro’s law-and-order rhetoric has helped put him among the top contenders for the October presidential election in a nation fed up with crime.
Human rights groups say police killings of suspects are already rampant.
