Four GNR accused of kidnapping and assaulting three minors in Palmela

Three men and a woman accused of multiple crimes by the PGR of Évora, committed against young people who allegedly left the Centro Jovem Tejo without authorization.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against four GNR soldiers from Palmela suspected of committing three crimes of seizure aggravatedone of abuse of power and another of aggravated injuryannounced the Regional Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Évora this Thursday.

The four soldiers — three men and one woman — are suspected of kidnapping and attacking three minors in the early hours of April 11, 2024, who had left without authorization the Centro Jovem Tejo, a Private Social Solidarity Institution (IPSS) that at the time accompanied young people and adults with addictive behaviors and dependencies (CAD), but which currently only monitors adults, in Quinta do Anjo, in the district of Setúbal.

According to a note published on the official page of the PGR of Évora, one of the accused is also accused of committing a crime of coercion and the only defendant in the case was also indicted for committing a crime of document forgery and a crime of slanderous denunciation.

“Feeling of insecurity”

When the four soldiers were presented for their first judicial interrogation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked that they be suspended from duty, but this request was not accepted by the criminal investigation judge nor, later, by the Court of Appeal of Évora.

Now that the accusation has been filed, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has once again asked for the suspension of the duties of the four GNR soldiers from Palmela.

“Because the military acted in the exercise of their functions and now seeing the possibility of conviction reinforced, the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to promote to the criminal investigation judge the suspension of the exercise of functions of the aforementioned accused”, says the note.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office justifies the request for suspension of functions with what it considers to be “the strong danger of continuation of criminal activity and the intense social alarm and feeling of insecurity that such behaviors, practiced by elements of the police forces, generated and generate in the community”.

Contacted by the Lusa agency, a source from the Setúbal Territorial Command of the GNR sent any explanation about the case to the Public Ministry, confirming only that, after the events, the soldiers in question were distributed across several GNR posts.

The Lusa agency also contacted the Tejo Youth Center, which declined to provide a statement.