Three Portuguese immigration officials imprisoned over killing of Ukrainian citizen – media

Three Portuguese immigration officials imprisoned over killing of Ukrainian citizen / Photo Flickr/Bac Son Group

A court on Monday sentenced three Portuguese immigration inspectors to seven to nine years in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian immigrant who was in custody at Lisbon Airport.

That's according to The Associated Press.

It is noted the three inspectors were convicted of grievous bodily harm, which a former senior immigration official said amounted to torture, leading to the 40-year-old man's death during interrogation.

Read alsoThe Guardian: Portuguese minister faces calls to quit over death of Ukrainian manTwo of the men received nine-year prison sentences and another got seven years.

The Lisbon court found that the inspectors had kicked and beat the handcuffed man with batons, breaking his ribs and causing death by asphyxiation.

Incident at Lisbon Airport

• It became known in March 2020 that the police were investigating the death of a 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen, Ihor Homeniuk, at Lisbon Airport. It was initially reported that he had died of an epileptic seizure.
• Later, the Portuguese media reported it was a possible violent death. Three officers of the Immigration and Border Service were arrested on suspicion of the murder of Homeniuk.
• The police said the probable crime had been committed at the airport's temporary detention center where he was taken after refusing to board a flight back out of the country.
• Later it became known that Portugal was liquidating the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) after a row over the killing of the Ukrainian citizen.