Two police officers in the Portuguese capital Lisbon have been charged with torturing migrants as well as some vagrants. The two are accused of sharing images of their acts in an online chat with other officers, with one of the officers also facing charges related to rape
The two Portuguese officers under investigation are currently in their 20s.
They were arrested last July already and have remained in custody, since then while prosecutors have been compiling a case against them with charges of committing torture, acts of cruelty and engaging in abuse of power; one of the two also faces additional charges of rape, robbery and forgery.
Lisbon Prosecutor Felismina Franco signed indictment papers with those charges last week, reported the Reuters news agency.
Their victims were "systematically picked from among particularly vulnerable people, namely homeless, physically weak, economically challenged," Franco wrote, highlighting that these conditions point at a desire for "pure and gratuitous violence aimed at those who were unable to offer resistance."
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'Welcome to Portugal'
Court documents seen by Reuters describe an incident in which the two policemen allegedly beat up a Moroccan immigrant inside a police station; the torturous event lasted several hours, according to reports.
In video footage, which will be presented as evidence in court, one of them is heard shouting the words "Welcome to Portugal" in English, while making the victim of the reported assault kiss their boots in an additional act of degradation.
Portugal's Interior Ministry meanwhile said that it "profoundly laments such behavior and all actions that infringe upon citizen rights ... which do not represent the general behavior of police professionals."
The General Inspectorate for Internal Affairs (IGAI), which is the country's internal auditing and inspection body responsible for overseeing entities placed under the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) such as the police, says it has opened a separate inquiry to investigate other police officers.
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Amnesty demands further scrutiny
The Portuguese branch of Amnesty International meanwhile said that it has received further information about more such cases of torture, which are linked to law enforcement.
Amnesty added that the alleged sharing of images and messages about such acts in chats and on social media among police showed "an enormous sense of impunity" among officers.
The global human rights group has called for an external and independent police supervision agency to be set up, and has also asked for more cameras to be installed inside police stations and in police cars — as well as demanding officers use body cams when interacting with people.
Amnesty meanwhile did welcome the fact that the reported crimes had officially been denounced from within the law enforcement community.
A similar case of degradation and torture directed at migrants at the hands of police emerged in 2022, when the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported that several officers had been charged with humiliating, kidnapping, and torturing migrant workers in the country.
Other serious cases of abuse of foreign nationals in Portugal also emerged in 2020 and 2018, with the former being linked to the death of a Ukrainian national in police custody at Lisbon airport.
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Rising xenophobia across Portugal
With an overall population of less than 11 million people, 16 percent of all people in Portugal are reported to be foreigners, with over six percent of the total residing in the country as visa holders or EU citizens who are free to roam across the bloc.
Many Brazilian nationals have also moved to the EU nation over the years, as part of special visa and residence programs in place between the two lusophone nations.
Only a small fraction of foreigners in Portugal are irregular migrants, refugee and asylum seekers; according to Asylum Information Database, fewer than 2,700 asylum applications were lodged in Portugal in 2024, with the recognition rate at the first instance standing at a record low.
This compares to Portugal receiving a total of 138,000 new immigrants in 2024, according to the OECD.
In recent years, the mood against migrants and foreigners in general has soured in Portugal amid an increasing housing shortage in the country.
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with Reuters