Two officers from the Public Security Police’s (PSP) Rato Squad, detained last July for the abduction and torture of two homeless men, will remain in pre-trial detention, as decided by the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
The ruling issued this month indicates that the officers are accused not only of aggravated abduction but also of torture and “cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment.”
The case dates back to 2024 and Notícias ao Minuto previously reported on it when the officers, both aged 25, were detained, and several searches, some within the Lisbon First Police Division stations, were conducted.
The investigation commenced following a report by the PSP’s National Directorate after learning of the suspicions surrounding the two officers, one from the First Police Division and the other from the Lisbon Metropolitan Command.
According to the ruling, the suspects allegedly violently assaulted two homeless men at the Rato station after intercepting them on suspicion of theft at a commercial establishment.
One officer reportedly assaulted both drug-dependent men by punching and kicking them and inserted a “baton into the anus” of one, forcing him to sniff it. Meanwhile, other police filmed the scene and mocked them.
The other detained officer allegedly attempted to insert a broom handle into the anus of the other homeless man and forced the victims to simulate sexual acts with each other.
The ruling, accessed by Notícias ao Minuto, further states that “if the alleged facts are proven, the sentence will exceed five years of imprisonment.”
