IGAI has 13 investigations to investigate discrimination by security forces | Crime

The General Inspectorate of Internal Administration (IGAI) has at least 13 ongoing disciplinary proceedings relating to discrimination and incitement to hatred or violence carried out by security force agents.

The Annual Internal Security Report says that this is the number of cases carried over from 2023 to 2024 in this body, whose mission is to police the police. This does not mean that, from January until now, no new investigations have been opened on the matter.

Last year, there was a single conviction for discriminatory action. It concerned a PSP agent who in 2022 criticized on social media the entry into the GNR of a member of gypsy ethnicity.

“This per se doesn’t say anything special, nor do we want to make value judgments, but in addition to his stance not appearing to be the most correct, it is at least strange that the guard in question is, allegedly, recognized locally as a seller of counterfeit products, which constitutes the commission of a crime”, wrote the agent in a text published on Facebook and also in a group called Comunidade Chega, accompanied by photographs of the target, in a post entitled “The Gypsy GNR”.

Despite having claimed that he had only shared the text in question, without being its author, the agent was sentenced to a disciplinary penalty of 45 days of suspension, suspended for one year, and the case was also transmitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as it could be The commission of a crime is also at stake, more specifically discrimination. From a disciplinary point of view, the IGAI considered that the police officer violated his duties of integrity and pursuit of the public interest.

“As follows from the Police Service Code of Ethics, members of the security forces must, in addition, respect human rights, cultivate and promote the values ​​of humanism, justice, integrity, honor, dignity, impartiality, exemption, probity and solidarity; promote, respect and protect human dignity and the fundamental rights of all people, whatever their nationality or origin, their social condition or their political, religious or philosophical convictions, always bearing in mind the equality of all citizens before the law”, recalled this body in the case in question.

In previous years, much more serious episodes led to the expulsion of agents from the security forces, following convictions in court. This was the case of one of the GNR soldiers involved in the attacks and kidnapping of immigrants in Vila Nova de Milfontes, while other colleagues of his who witnessed everything, although they did not participate in the attacks, were suspended. Tell IGAI: “The GNR soldier who witnesses a group of other soldiers taking vulnerable victims, who did not speak the Portuguese language, into a GNR post, placing them on their haunches, on a plank, being held down and obeying instructions Your orders and subordinates have a legal obligation to intervene and not allow these types of acts to occur and continue. He cannot, consciously and freely, choose to do nothing, not intervene or prevent anything.”

Three SEF inspectors expelled

For the most part, the three inspectors from the Foreigners and Borders Service convicted in the case of the death of Ukrainian citizen Ihor Homeniuk at Lisbon airport were also expelled from public service.

“Carrying out functions in a security service whose nature and mission is based, in addition, on safeguarding internal security and individual rights and freedoms in the global context of the migratory reality, a mission that the target, with his conduct, did not fulfill and disrespected in a gross manner, its continuity and maintenance of the public bond is rendered unfeasible”, said the IGAI in one of the cases.

A much lighter sentence was that applied to the commander of the Brandoa police station who participated in an attack on a young Cape Verdean in the middle of the Amadora Court: ten days of suspension, not effective, but suspended for one year.

He was with two other police officers, and everyone says that the young man insulted them, but there are no witnesses to this fact, unlike what happened with the attacks, which were attended by lawyers. While the commander restrained the victim, his colleagues kicked him in the chest and another in the left arm, which earned the hierarchical superior a criminal conviction and a fine of 2,160 euros. Already after that he was promoted to commissioner.

The lack of witnesses, who, as they were foreigners, were no longer in Portugal, meant that the trial of an officer from the Beja PSP traffic police station for torture and insults against a Ukrainian agricultural worker resulted in a lack of evidence and the consequent criminal acquittal of the defendant, who was also suspended preventively for 90 days. Two of his colleagues who witnessed everything but did not act or report what they saw were given suspensions of 20 and 30 days, respectively.