Sixteen further arrests in PSP police alleged torture scandal – Portugal Resident

Another 16 people have been arrested today in the ongoing PSP police alleged torture scandal. They are thought to include 15 PSP police agents, and one civilian.

The number brings the total number of arrests in this shocking investigation to 25: nine were arrested previously, of which the two principal suspects have already been charged.

The latest arrests were for suspicions of the crimes of torture, serious offenses to physical integrity, and rape committed in the police stations of Rato and Bairro Alto.

Reporting on the update, SIC Notícias said it “knows that one of those detained works at Lisbon airport”. Whether that means the individual is ‘the civilian’ in this case, is not quite so clear.

Meantime, the PSP national director, Luís Carrilho, has reaffirmed his force’s ‘zero tolerance’ for deviant behaviour, guaranteeing that the public “can continue to trust” the PSP police force.

“The Public Security Police (PSP) is an institution with around 20,000 men and women who do their best, every day, so that Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world. We shall continue to do this. We have zero tolerance (for) allegations of bad behaviour.”

This case centres on suspicions of the crimes of serious torture, rape – consummated and attempted – abuse of power, detention of a prohibited weapon and serious offences against (people’s) physical integrity.

Victims were overwhelmingly drug addicts, homeless people and vulnerable immigrants.

The accusation, drawn up by DCIAP (the department of criminal investigation and penal action), refers to the two principal defendants attacking people they arrested, and filming the attacks.

Victims were allegedly put through the most degrading situations – all minutely captured on video. In one, a Moroccan citizen was (allegedly) sodomised with a police truncheon, beaten, and then driven to an isolated spot in the city where he was abandoned.

As SIC concludes: “Many of these (alleged) abuses were filmed and shared with dozens of police agents in Whatsapp groups.

Source: SIC Notícias