MIGUEL A. LOPES/LUSA
The Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves
Seven agents accused of various crimes: serious torture, attempted and completed rape, abuse of power or possession of a prohibited weapon.
The seven agents and PSP, detained on Wednesday, will wait in preventive detention the trial of crimes of serious torture, completed and attempted rape, abuse of power, possession of a prohibited weapon, serious and qualified offenses to physical integrity.
In a joint statement, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the PSP announced the coercive measures applied by the Criminal Investigation Judge (JIC) that followed the arrest of the agents.
The application of the most severe coercive measure, continues the press release, appears to be based “on the danger of continuation of criminal activity, serious disturbance of public peace and order and danger of conservation and acquisition of evidence and in accordance with what is promoted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office”.
The investigation is subject to judicial secrecy, it also reads.
On Wednesday, authorities arrested seven PSP agents following the investigation into crimes of serious torture, rape, assault and abuse of power at Esquadra do Ratoin Lisbon.
“Sorry”
Luis Neves, now Minister of Internal Administration and who was director of the Judiciary Police at the beginning of the investigation, he apologized.
“I want to address the victims of these crimes and ask, on behalf of the collective, for a request for sorry. The police are always a friendly shoulder, a point of shelter, especially for the most vulnerable and victims.”
On the other hand, he assured that the detained PSP agents are an exception: the others are “fantastic people, who every day give their best, with rigor, with pride, with determination”.
And he reinforced that “not a few are suspected of committing serious crimes that call into question the image of an institution that is more than a century old and that has given a lot to the country”.
In a message published later, the minister reinforced: “The overwhelming majority of PSP professionals serve Portugal with a high sense of mission, courage and respect for democratic legality”.
