Two young police officers in Lisbon are facing serious criminal charges following allegations of horrific abuse against detainees, which they are accused of filming and sharing with colleagues.
Shocking Details of Alleged Abuse Emerge
The two officers, aged 21 and 24, were arrested on July 10 last year. Their alleged crimes came to light after an indictment was filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office on January 9. According to the legal document, the pair targeted vulnerable individuals, including drug addicts, petty criminals, foreign nationals, and homeless people.
The indictment states the officers abused detainees with 'punches, slaps, and blows to the head with their gun butts'. They are further accused of filming and photographing these violent acts and their victims.
Graphic Instances of Violence and Humiliation
In one particularly brutal case, one defendant is alleged to have used a police baton to rape and beat a man before leaving him in the street. The document notes: 'The use of a baton... was reported in another situation, where a broom handle was also used.'
Another detainee reportedly had a gun pointed at his head and was subjected to sustained physical assault. When the officers found a knife on him, one 'cut off some of his dreadlocks and threw them into a trash can' while the other recorded the incident on a mobile phone.
Systemic Sharing and Culture of Complicity
Prosecutors assert that 'everything was filmed and often shared in WhatsApp groups with dozens of other police officers'. This behaviour, committed over a short period early in their careers, is described as demonstrating 'a repeated, cold and deliberate behavioural posture, marked by a lack of empathy and the conscious instrumentation of their position of authority'.
The Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Lisbon is leading the probe. One officer now faces 29 separate charges, while the other has been charged with six crimes. Several more individuals have been identified as alleged co-perpetrators but have not been formally charged.
