Abdul Bashir was sentenced in early June to the maximum prison term, with the court determining that the 30-year-old Afghan is accountable for his actions and should serve his sentence in prison rather than a mental health facility.
The appeal submitted this Wednesday, according to a source close to the process, relates solely to the measure of coercion applied and seeks to keep Abdul Bashir in the prison hospital in Caxias so that he can continue receiving appropriate treatment.
The same source added that the appeal emphasizes the evaluation made by the psychiatrist treating Abdul Bashir at the Caxias prison hospital, who believes that Bashir has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and requires adequate care.
During the trial, in addition to the examination requested from forensic psychiatrists, the court also requested an assessment from a forensic psychologist and concluded, according to the verdict accessed by Lusa, that the “conducted examinations are not unanimous,” with the forensic psychologist stating that “nothing was observed to support a diagnosis of schizophrenia.”
Given this analysis by the forensic psychologist, the judges decided that Abdul Bashir is accountable and, therefore, must serve his sentence in a prison as opposed to institutionalization, which would be the case if he were deemed unaccountable.
The Public Prosecutor had argued that the 30-year-old Abdul Bashir is unaccountable and requested that he be institutionalized, not imprisoned, for a minimum of three years. However, the court decided the man “acted deliberately” and rejected the plea of unaccountability.
“The defendant did not have any condition at the time of the act that impaired his will or prevented him from understanding right from wrong, and for this reason, [the court] ruled him accountable,” said the presiding judge during the reading of the verdict.
In the appeal, the defense also utilized the Public Prosecutor’s interpretation, additionally arguing with the expertise of both the psychologist and psychiatrist, noting that there was no opportunity for rebuttal.
The crime took place on March 28, 2023, and the victims were two women, aged 24 and 49, who worked in the refugee support service at the Ismaili Center. The Afghan citizen was found guilty of seven out of the 11 charges against him: two counts of aggravated homicide, three attempted homicides, one count of resisting and coercing an officer, and one count of possessing a prohibited weapon.
