Reuben Candeias, GNR soldier from the Vila Nova de Milfontes post, was sentenced, Tuesday, to six years effective imprisonment, in the case of mistreatment of immigrants.
The collective of judges of the Court of Beja condemned, in legal height, on this tuesday afternoon, the seven GNR soldiers from the Vila Nova de Milfontes Detachment, to prison sentences of between one year and three months and six years of deprivation of liberty, but only Rúben Candeias (na photos) He was sentenced to effective jail sentence.
the most severe penalty, six years in prison, was applied to Candeias, held as the main responsible for the commission of crimes of abuse of power, offenses against physical integrity and kidnapping, perpetrated against immigrants. João Miguel Lopes was sentenced to four years and two months in prison and Nelson Lima to two years and six months in prison, with suspension of the effectiveness of the sentence in both cases.
These three soldiers had already been convicted, in judgment of 3 July 2020, to suspended sentences in its execution in another process with similar contours. João Miguel Lopes was sentenced to five years in prison, while Rúben Candeias and Nelson Lima to four years and three years and six months in prison, respectively.
The remaining soldiers were also sentenced to suspended sentences., ranging from one year to three months, for Nuno Andrade, and the two years, for Diogo Ribeiro. Carlos Figueiredo and Paulo Cunha were both sentenced to one year and six months in prison.
Rúben Candeias and João Paulo Lopes were given the accessory penalty of prohibiting the exercise of functions in the GNR, situation resulting from a change in the graduation of crimes, promoted during a trial session.
The collective of judges accompanied the petition of the public prosecutor (MP), who in the final allegations had defended the conviction of the seven military, “in view of its seriousness and general prevention needs for the safety of citizens”, held.
No total, the military were accused of 30 crimes and were convicted of 19.
Judges asked for excuse to judge case
Two of the three judges who were part of the panel entered the Court of Appeal of Évora (THREE) with an apology, not to judge the process, as they had been involved in the first conviction of three of the defendants. The judges of the TRE did not accept the request with the justification that “the personal impartiality of the judges is not at issue”.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
