News this week that two young PSP police agents are in preventive custody charged with a range of hideous offences against vulnerable people (the homeless/ drug addicts and immigrants) may just be the tip of a very ugly institutional iceberg.
Expresso today goes into graphic detail behind this story, suggesting that there are as many as 70 police agents among the Whatsapp groups on which videos of police brutality against ‘captive members of the public’ were shared – and that there could be a total of 10 in all who have beaten people in at least two central Lisbon police stations.
Opposition party Bloco de Esquerda has already called for the Minister of Interior Administration to address parliament as a matter of urgency, stressing that what it finds “particularly alarming” is that these acts were witnessed by other police officers who, “far from intervening to stop the torture, merely stood by, laughed and took pictures”. For the Left Bloc, this exposes an “inability of the chain of command to eradicate a subculture of violence” – allowing police officers to violate their ‘duty to protect.’
Expresso opens its story today saying that one video in which agent Óscar B (Correio da Manhã has already named the man in full as Óscar Borges) delivers a “violent kick to the ankles of a man handcuffed to a wooden stool in Lisbon’s Rato police station, was shared in a Whatsapp group with 69 participants. The Public Prosecutor’s Office suspects that all these are PSP agents”.
Borges shared the video with the comment: “An Azorian talking with an Algerian. They understand each other.”
In another Whatsapp group, composed of seven PSP agents, the two young officers currently in preventive custody shared more videos – including one of an immigrant on the floor, forced to kiss the boots of four duty officers against a backdrop of chants: “Kiss, kiss, kiss!”. One of the people receiving this video suggested “scrubbing the man’s mouth out with sh**t”.
The same forum was seen to have enjoyed another video in which the two agents used a knife to cut the ‘rastas’ of an immigrant and throw them into the trash.
As Expresso explains: “Aside from the two agents now charged with more than 30 crimes of torture, rape, abuse of power and serious offences against physical integrity, public prosecutors are investigating colleagues of the agents, who also took part in the violence”.
A read-through of the charge sheet “allows one to realise that at least 10 police are under suspicion”, says the paper, while the number of police who stood by while people were brutalised (including sodomised with a police baton/ broom handle) “and did nothing to stop the violence, will be far higher”.
This is a truly miserable story harking back to the equally terrible events of 10 years ago in the suburbs of Lisbon featured by the BBC.
Expresso reveals that it was a source at the PSP’s national board that ‘denounced’ the two agents’ activities. But it is not clear when exactly the hierarchy became aware of what was going on, nor who exactly within it ultimately blew the whistle.
The paper also says that it has sent questions to the Minister of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, but that no answers were forthcoming in time for publication.
Ms Amaral’s habit of keeping such a low profile as to be practically invisible has been noticed over the months of her tenure. This may be why Bloco de Esquerda has delivered the request to parliament that she be called to explain the situation “with urgency”.
“The hearing requested aims to question Minister Maria Lúcia Amaral on the practical application of the ‘Plan for the Prevention of Discrimination in the Security Forces and Services’ and on compliance with recommendations of supervisory bodies, in view of the recurrence of cases of torture in police custody”, explains Esquerda.net
In the text, submitted to Paula Cardoso, chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, the Bloco points to structural flaws in control and oversight. The party recalls that reports from IGAI (internal administration inspectorate) and the National Prevention Mechanism have repeatedly warned of the existence of ‘blind spots’ in police stations, resulting from a lack of video surveillance, which encourage abuse of authority.
Source: Expresso/ Esquerda.net
