A group of psychiatrists expressed “perplexity and concern” over the court’s decision to sentence Abdul Bashir to a maximum prison term of 25 years, arguing that the verdict dismissed medical and forensic psychiatric opinions and testimony diagnosing schizophrenia.
The court, besides consulting forensic psychiatrists, also sought an evaluation from a forensic psychologist. According to the court’s decision, the assessments were not in agreement, with the psychologist stating he found “nothing to support a diagnosis of schizophrenia.”
Given the psychologist’s analysis, the court determined Abdul Bashir to be accountable, thereby sentencing him to prison rather than ordering hospitalization, which would have been considered if deemed not accountable.
On Wednesday evening, the document was submitted to the Ordem dos Médicos. The signing group of psychiatrists asserted that the court “ignored a medical diagnosis, relying on a forensic psychologist’s opinion, who cannot make or contest medical diagnoses and thus overstepped their competence.” They emphasized the primacy of medico-legal psychiatric evaluations when determining legal accountability.
The psychiatrists stressed that the right to health is constitutional and that “denying this right in the context of a documented schizophrenia diagnosis undermines the principle of human dignity.”
The document calls for urgent public reflection “on the risks of uninformed justice impervious to science,” emphasizing that psychiatric evaluations are not for sentence mitigation but to ensure treatment and apply penal responsibility only when personal accountability can be demanded.
The Public Ministry had recommended Abdul Bashir, aged 30, be hospitalized for a minimum of three years, declaring him not accountable. However, the court ruled he “acted deliberately” and was accountable.
“The defendant had no illness that influenced his will or prevented him from understanding right from wrong at the time of the acts, leading the court to consider him accountable,” stated the presiding judge during the verdict reading.
The crime occurred on March 28, 2023, involving two female victims, aged 24 and 49, working at the refugee support center of the Ismaili Centre. The Afghan national was found guilty on seven of the 11 charges: two counts of aggravated murder, three of attempted murder, one of resistance and coercion against an officer, and one of possessing a prohibited weapon.
