The Tavares de Almeida torture conviction and its relevance to the case of Madeleine McCann.

[Carana]

Is this case really all you can come up with to prove your claim of Portuguese police brutality ? Does one case 25 YEARS ago really prove to you that beating up suspects is endemic within the PJ ?

Virgolino Borges (2000)

Cipriano (2004).

Two women by a PSP officer... erm, yesterday.

11.02.2015 10:33 Agente da PSP acusada de agressões e tortura de duas mulheres Polícia de 33 anos agrediu duas mulheres.

Ler mais em: http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/agente_da_psp_acusada_de_agressoes_e_tortura_de_duas_mulheres.html

It happens in many countries. In true democracies, such cases are exposed, in theory...

I'm glad for Portuguese citizens that such cases are no longer being swept under the carpet of judicial secrecy or criminal defamation if, in fact, they are true. 

[DCI]

Virgolino Borges (2000)

Cipriano (2004).

Two women by a PSP officer... erm, yesterday.

11.02.2015 10:33 Agente da PSP acusada de agressões e tortura de duas mulheres Polícia de 33 anos agrediu duas mulheres.

Ler mais em: http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/agente_da_psp_acusada_de_agressoes_e_tortura_de_duas_mulheres.html

It happens in many countries. In true democracies, such cases are exposed, in theory...

I'm glad for Portuguese citizens that such cases are no longer being swept under the carpet of judicial secrecy or criminal defamation if, in fact, they are true.

Not good reading


http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/portugal/report-2013

[Brietta]

Virgolino Borges (2000)

Cipriano (2004).

Two women by a PSP officer... erm, yesterday.

11.02.2015 10:33 Agente da PSP acusada de agressões e tortura de duas mulheres Polícia de 33 anos agrediu duas mulheres.

Ler mais em: http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/agente_da_psp_acusada_de_agressoes_e_tortura_de_duas_mulheres.html

It happens in many countries. In true democracies, such cases are exposed, in theory...

I'm glad for Portuguese citizens that such cases are no longer being swept under the carpet of judicial secrecy or criminal defamation if, in fact, they are true.

As can be seen from the fact that Tavares de Almeida was tried and convicted and other recent cases in Portugal when officers of the law who had committed criminal offences were similarly convicted shows there is a determined effort going ahead in Portugal to root out the bad apples.

I have no idea what the statistics say, but a brief search will reveal that the authorities in Portugal have an uphill task in front of them in addressing brutality which appears to be endemic.


Although the detainee did not offer resistance, he was physically assaulted by the police even when held on the floor by the officers. There was a large number of witnesses present at the scene, who protested with indignation against the behaviour of the officers. Yet the police continued to threaten residents and bystanders with physical violence, persecuting them with batons and firing rubber bullets. A woman hanging her laundry in the balcony was hit by three rubber bullets and had to receive treatment in hospital
http://www.ihrc.org.uk/publications/briefings/11358-racist-police-violence-in-portugal--8-february-2015

14 June 2013
15-year-old Musso Borges died as a result of injuries allegedly caused by violence perpetrated by Portuguese police officers. The case has shaken the Cape Verdean community in Amadora, a large suburb of Portuguese capital Lisbon. According to accusations from the “Ghetto Platform,” the death brings the number of poor, black youths killed at the hands of the Portuguese police to 15. Borges’ friends and relatives are calling for justice.
http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article89070



It does happen far more frequently than it should ... but sometimes it backfires as can be seen here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jagvYIMJyzU#t=88

[stephen25000]

As I have seen my earlier posts deleted, YET AGAIN.

Where has it been established ANYWHERE, that any of the people mentioned acted illegally in this case ?

Answers on a post card.

[Eleanor]

As can be seen from the fact that Tavares de Almeida was tried and convicted and other recent cases in Portugal when officers of the law who had committed criminal offences were similarly convicted shows there is a determined effort going ahead in Portugal to root out the bad apples.

I have no idea what the statistics say, but a brief search will reveal that the authorities in Portugal have an uphill task in front of them in addressing brutality which appears to be endemic.


Although the detainee did not offer resistance, he was physically assaulted by the police even when held on the floor by the officers. There was a large number of witnesses present at the scene, who protested with indignation against the behaviour of the officers. Yet the police continued to threaten residents and bystanders with physical violence, persecuting them with batons and firing rubber bullets. A woman hanging her laundry in the balcony was hit by three rubber bullets and had to receive treatment in hospital
http://www.ihrc.org.uk/publications/briefings/11358-racist-police-violence-in-portugal--8-february-2015

14 June 2013
15-year-old Musso Borges died as a result of injuries allegedly caused by violence perpetrated by Portuguese police officers. The case has shaken the Cape Verdean community in Amadora, a large suburb of Portuguese capital Lisbon. According to accusations from the “Ghetto Platform,” the death brings the number of poor, black youths killed at the hands of the Portuguese police to 15. Borges’ friends and relatives are calling for justice.
http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article89070



It does happen far more frequently than it should ... but sometimes it backfires as can be seen here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jagvYIMJyzU#t=88

This really upsets me.  And yes, I would be as equally upset if it was happening in UK.

But it is endemic in Portugal.  No wonder The British Embassy were so quick to get there.  They knew all about this.  And it was only some two and a half years since Leonor Cipriano had been beaten.

British or Portuguese, I don't care which.  But now we see that it is still going on.  Who is going to holler about this for ordinary Portuguese people?

[Eleanor]

On Topic, Please.  Off Topic rubbish and verbal punch ups will be deleted.

[Carana]

As I have seen my earlier posts deleted, YET AGAIN.

Where has it been established ANYWHERE, that any of the people mentioned acted illegally in this case ?

Answers on a post card.

Prevention is a wonderful thing... almost as wonderful as hindsight.

[stephen25000]

'But it is endemic in Portugal.'


HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN PORTUGAL ?

HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN THE UK?

HOW ABOUT FRANCE ?

etc.

[Carana]

'But it is endemic in Portugal.'


HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN PORTUGAL ?

HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN THE UK?

HOW ABOUT FRANCE ?

etc.

Do you really need to shout? I'd already said that such things occur everywhere.

My point is that more media attention is finally being paid to brutality or injustices against ordinary Portuguese citizens, perhaps partially as a result of the media / diplomatic attention to the McCann case and the perceived "injustice" against Portuguese citizens.

Do you have a problem with that?

[stephen25000]

Do you really need to shout? I'd already said that such things occur everywhere.

My point is that more media attention is finally being paid to brutality or injustices against ordinary Portuguese citizens, perhaps partially as a result of the media / diplomatic attention to the McCann case and the perceived "inustice" against Portuguese citizens.

Do you have a problem with that?

That was not shouting.

I was making a point.

Now what about police brutality figures, racism, etc., in the UK........................

[Carana]

That was not shouting.

I was making a point.

Now what about police brutality figures, racism, etc., in the UK........................

Feel free to quote recent statistics, including cases referred to the national equivalent of the IPCC and the outcome within Europe or any other continent of your choosing.

I have no particular view, aside from a thumbs-up to the Portuguese for progressively greater transparency.

[stephen25000]

What about relative percentages of cases in both countries ?

As to cases...................

Google them.

[Lyall]

Do you really need to shout? I'd already said that such things occur everywhere.

My point is that more media attention is finally being paid to brutality or injustices against ordinary Portuguese citizens, perhaps partially as a result of the media / diplomatic attention to the McCann case and the perceived "injustice" against Portuguese citizens.

Do you have a problem with that?

It was the massive media/diplomatic attention focused on Portugal in 2007 that makes the suggestion of any imagined extrajudicial threat to the McCanns very silly indeed.

[Eleanor]

It was the massive media/diplomatic attention focused on Portugal in 2007 that makes the suggestion of any imagined extrajudicial threat to the McCanns very silly indeed.

Imagined?  Witnesses and Suspects getting beaten up by The PJ.  Nothing imagined about that.

[Lyall]

People are continually using the obvious unpreparedness of the Portuguese police for that massive media and diplomatic attention (a phenomenon not unique to Portugal - we've seen it many times in the UK in recent years) as evidence that they never did any policing.

That's not an accusation Madeleine's family themselves have made (and the files are full of evidence of police activity) so you have to wonder why people keep making it? &%+((£