Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Portugal.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Portugal. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Portugal U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/portugal/
[accessed 3 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT In 2019 the
government-run IGAI received 950 reports of mistreatment and abuse by police
and prison guards, the highest number since 2012. Complaints of physical
abuse consisted primarily of slaps, punches, and kicks to the body and head,
as well as beatings with batons. The complaints were mainly against the
Public Security Police (PSP) (551) and the Republican National Guard (GNR)
(306). Anti-torture
committee publishes a report on Portugal Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT),
Strasbourg, 27 February 2018 www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/anti-torture-committee-publishes-a-report-on-portugal [accessed 27
February 2018] During its 2016
periodic visit to the country, the CPT’s delegation received a considerable
number of credible allegations of ill-treatment at the time of apprehension
and during police custody. The alleged
ill-treatment consisted primarily of slaps, punches and kicks to the body and
head as well as beatings with batons. The CPT concludes that the resort to
ill-treatment, including for the purpose of obtaining confessions, is not
infrequent. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/portugal/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 18 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Human rights groups
have expressed concern over unlawful police conduct, particularly abuse of
detainees and excessive use of force. Overcrowding in prisons remains a
problem, as do poor health and safety conditions. In July 2017, prosecutors
charged 18 police officers with physically abusing six men of African descent
in 2015. The case was ongoing at year’s end. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture
[PDF] U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc.
CAT/C/PRT/CO/4(2008) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/portugal2008.pdf [accessed 5 March
2013] Prompt and
impartial investigations and redress 12. The Committee
is concerned that article 4 of Act No. 21/2000 of 10 August 2000 does not
include torture among the 30 crimes listed in the Act for which the judicial police
is solely responsible, since this could impede the initiation of prompt and
impartial investigations of alleged cases of torture in the territory of the
State party (arts. 12 and 14). Portugal: "Small problems..."? A
summary of concerns Amnesty International
AI, 30 July 2001, Index number: EUR 38/002/2001 www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur38/002/2001/en/ Download the Report at www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/128000/eur380022001en.pdf [accessed 13 January
2019] This report summarizes, comments upon and updates the organization's
concerns about Portugal to the end of 2000. These include: continuing reports
of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police, deaths in police
custody, numerous reports of cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions in prison
establishments, and reports of violence by custodial staff. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT A criminal
investigation into the use of a Taser against an inmate in Paços de Ferreira prison in 2010 did not progress despite
the findings of an inquiry by the Audit and Inspection services of the
General Directorate for prisons that two members of the Prison Security
Intervention Group had used the weapon disproportionately. The outcome of
disciplinary proceedings against the two prison officers remained pending at
the end of the year. The trial of three
police officers accused of torturing Virgolino
Borges in March 2000 while in police custody, which started in November 2011,
made little progress. EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE In March, police
reportedly used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators during
anti-austerity protests. On 22 March, two journalists received medical treatment
after allegedly being beaten by police at a demonstration in Lisbon. In September,
members of the Guarda Nacional Republicana
reportedly used excessive force when attempting to arrest a man in a Romani
community in Regalde, Vila Verde Municipality. At
least nine Roma, including children, were allegedly beaten and physically and
verbally abused by about 30 police officers; at least three needed medical
treatment. On 14 November,
during a general strike, police reportedly charged peaceful demonstrators
using batons. Some of those detained were reportedly not informed of the
grounds for their detention and denied timely access to legal representation.
The media reported 48 wounded. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty International’s
website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=portugal+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 10 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/portugal [accessed 11
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] The constitution
provides for an independent court system. However, staff shortages and
inefficiency have contributed to a considerable backlog of pending trials.
Human rights groups have expressed concern about unlawful police shootings,
deaths in police custody, and poor prison conditions. A Justice Ministry
report released in 2005 cited a number of problems in the country’s prison
system, including overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, and high rates of
HIV/AIDS among inmates. The prison population—as a percentage of the total
population—is larger than the EU average. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61669.htm [accessed 11
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61669.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were credible reports of
disproportionate use of force by police and of mistreatment and other forms
of abuse by prison guards against detainees. During the year the
IGAI investigated new reports of mistreatment and abuse by police and prison
guards (see section 1.d.). An internal prison
inquiry into the beating of Albino Libânio in 2003
found that he had sustained multiple injuries from an assault that may have
amounted to torture. A criminal investigation into the matter was pending,
and disciplinary proceedings against several prison officers were ongoing. In December a trial
began of three police officers who were accused of assault in 1995. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Portugal", http://gvnet.com/torture/Portugal.htm, [accessed
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