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LISBON — A Portuguese court Monday found three border force officers guilty of fatally beating a Ukrainian man detained at Lisbon airport, in a case that has led the government to break up the country’s immigration service (SEF).
Ihor Homenyuk, 42, died two days after being held on arrival in March 2020.
He slowly suffocated after being left alone, face down on the floor with several broken ribs, his hands cuffed behind his back and legs taped together, said a doctor who carried out the autopsy.
Prosecutors said Homenyuk was tied, kicked and beaten with a baton.
The Lisbon court found immigration officials Bruno Sousa, Duarte Laja and Luís Silva guilty of aggravated assault leading to Homenyuk’s death. Laja and Silva were sentenced to nine years in prison, Sousa to seven. Homicide charges were dropped, since intent to kill was unproven.
“These three convictions should serve as an example for … all members of the police who do their jobs every day, but who can never abuse their power to harm citizens,” José Gaspar Schwalbach, the lawyer representing Homenyuk’s family, told reporters.
The outcry over the killing forced the resignation of the immigration service’s director in December. Last month, the government of Prime Minister António Costa ordered the breakup of the SEF.
Border enforcement is being handed to regular police forces, while a renamed Foreigners and Asylum Service (SEA) will take on administrative tasks, such as residency and asylum requests to “strengthen the humanist intervention element.”
In December, the government agreed to pay €800,000 compensation to Homenyuk’s family in Ukraine. Portugal’s parliament unanimously passed a vote of regret over his death.
Defense lawyers said they would appeal the convictions. Their clients denied the charges.
The immigration service originally claimed Homenyuk died after an epilepsy attack. Defense lawyers later suggested other people could have inflicted his injuries.
SEF officials claimed Homenyuk admitted coming to the country to seek work despite arriving on a tourist visa. They said he resisted attempts to put him on a plane home.
Portugal was a popular destination for Ukrainian migrants in the early 2000s. Their numbers peaked in 2008 but, at around 30,000, they remain the fifth largest immigrant community, according to official figures.
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