António Pedro Santos / Lusa
A falsified self and a nonexistent threat. Odair Moniz was beaten with a stick, already on the floor, after being shot. He took two shots at close range, although he was the first bullet to cause his death.
The case of Odair Moniz’s death at the hands of PSP is gaining new contours as the Public Prosecution Service (MP) investigates what really happened on the night of October 21, 2024 in Cova da Moura.
The MP, who this Tuesday the agent who killed the 43-year-old Cape Verdean, says that There are “incongruities and inaccuracies” In this case, and “one of the suspicions that exists is, from the outset, as to the authorship” of the News.
This is because the self was prepared at 14:55 on the day of the incident by the PSP agent who fired on Odair – although the same agent, “on that date and time” is “subject to interrogation by the Judicial Police, a diligence that began by 14:40 and ended at 6:00 pm on October 21, 2024 and took place at DLVT [Diretoria de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo] -PJ, in Lisbon ”, reads in the accusation”.
In this sense, the MP says that, by order of December 19, 2024, “Certificate was extracted for autonomous investigation of these facts.”
“In the immediate” knife, but without traces of Odair (who will not have threatened the agents)
The Public Prosecution Service did not find proof that Odair Moniz used a knife to threaten the two agents present.
According to the accusation, Odair Moniz He tried to escape from PSP and resist detention, but never the MP describes any threat using the white weapon.
This information from the Public Prosecution Service contrary The official statement issued by PSP on Odair Moniz’s death day, which indicated that Odair “resisted the detention” and tried to assault agents “using the white weapon.”
The order only states that it was found “in the vicinity” where Odair fell near the car that was parked there, a 25 -centimeter dagger 15 centimeters of blade and plastic cable. This dagger “There was not enough biological traces to get an DNA profile”Read in the document.
Two shots at close range, followed by aggression with a stick
Regarding the shots, the first was fired at a distance between 20 and 50 centimeters and reached the chest zone. At that time, Odair still “remained standing”, but the PSP agent fired a second timeat a distance between 75 centimeters and one meter, reaching the groin zone.
When Odair Moniz fell to the ground, the agent who was not accused in this process, “using a stick, struck his body and the body rolled and immobilized.” With the autopsy, the prosecutor reveals that The death was caused by the first bullet.
For the prosecutor, the agent accused of murder “knew that the conduct of triggering twice the short distance from Odair’s body was able to reach his body.”
“Despite such knowledge, the defendant, with the purpose of removing Odair Moniz from himself and being able to immobilize him, wanted to reach with two projectiles Its body, ”adds the prosecutor responsible for the investigation, Patrícia Agostinho.
How it all started
The prosecution also describes the moment when the two PSP agents who were on duty at dawn on October 21, 2024 crossed Odair Moniz.
The two agents would go down Avenida da República, Amadora, and Odair would be leaving the Cova da Moura neighborhood through the main street.
As he turned right, Odair will have been on Avenida da República, facing the police car, but already with the blink to go to the left. When he saw the PSP car, “he swept his car to the right, he printed speed to the car and continued to circulate on Avenida da República,” reads the prosecution. Realizing the change, the two agents decided to start the police persecution, which only ended inside the Moura Cova.
Agent “did not do everything within her reach” to preserve human life
For the Public Prosecution Service, the PSP agent “did not do everything that was within its reach to preserve human life and resorted to the extreme measure of a firearm against a personconforming to the possibility of Odair Moniz’s death ”.
The PSP agent who fired the two shots against Odair Moniz is accused of murder and the prosecutor also requested that the suspension of the exercise of duties were determined as a measure of coercion and that the accessory penalty was applied, already in the condemnation phase, of prohibition of function exercise. The MP also requested that “the defendant awaits the further terms of the process subject to the measure of coercion of suspension of the exercise of profession of agent of the PSP”.
The PSP agent accused of murder can be punished with prison sentence of eight to 16 years. At this time, the PSP agent and defendant is low and there is no date to return to work, having been transferred from the squadron where he was working at the time the victim was killed.
PSP asks for presumption of innocence and makes no comments
In a written response sent to Lusa, the PSP National Directorate (DN) states that “Portugal is a rule of democratic law, so PSP expects the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence to be applied”.
“The case in appreciation is in secret of justice, so PSP does no more comments about the court decision,” adds the PSP DN.
On December 16, 2024, the PSP national director said police are one of the “most scrutiny” institutions and “not above the law”, maintaining the official statement issued after Odair Moniz’s death.
“We must let the institutions work. The only formal document that exists, in terms of social communication, was the statement that PSP understood to do at the time. When you are able to give me a formal, official document about the situation, then I suggest you channel to the Justice System, ”he said to journalists Luís Carrilho, on the sidelines of the presentation of the Christmas and New Year campaign 2024/2025“ “ Safer parties ”.
Odair Moniz, a 43-year-old Cape Verdean citizen and a resident in the Zambujal neighborhood of Amadora, by a PSP agent at dawn on October 21, in the Cova da Moura neighborhood, in the same county, Lisbon district, and died little Then at the São Francisco Xavier Hospital in Lisbon.
The SOS Racism Association and the Life Life Movement contested the police version and required a “serious and exempt” investigation to investigate responsibilities, considering that “a culture of impunity” is at stake in the police.
This week there were riots in Zambujal and in other neighborhoods of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, where they were burned and vandalized buses, cars and rubbish crates, adding about two dozen detainees and other suspects identified.
In addition to the judicial process, the General Inspection of Internal Affairs (IGAI) and the PSP processes of disciplinary scope are taking place.
