A lawyer for one of the seven GNR soldiers who began trial this Wednesday for kidnapping and assaulting immigrants in Odemir said he was awaiting an acquittal for his client, arguing that he did not participate in the abuse.
Speaking to reporters, Luis Cruz Campos, a lawyer for GNR soldier João López, said there was “no evidence” that his client was involved in the videotaped kidnapping and assault cases that are in court.
According to the lawyer, the accused Joao Lopes “does not appear in any image” but was charged by the Ministry of Public Administration (MP) and was put on trial because “there was voice recognition by the head of the post.”
“I hope to prove that the voice is not his, it is easy to see, and that he is justified,” he added.
The Court of Bej began this Wednesday to try the seven GNR soldiers accused by the MP of a total of 33 crimes against immigrants in Odemir, such as kidnapping and aggression, in cases that took place in 2018 and 2019.
Joao Lopes was the only one of the seven GNR soldiers who were tried to appear at the first court session in the uniform of the Guards.
Asked by reporters, lawyer Luis Cruz Campos said that this morning his client did not make statements before the panel of judges considering the case, because “now is not the right time.”
“We will properly analyze what will happen” during the trial, and then “we will decide whether to testify or not,” he said.
Expressing “sorrow” at the facts being assessed, the lawyer believes that “the NPR deserves more” and that “for a country with a democracy, it is not visible on the video.”
“I condemn him because I really condemn him as a person and as a lawyer,” he added.
GNR soldier João Lopes had already been sentenced in the process that led to it to five years’ suspended imprisonment and, as an additional penalty, two years and six months’ suspension from duty.
A previous trial involving kidnapping, home invasion and attacks on immigrants in Odemir was heard in 2020 by a panel of judges in the Beja Court.
A new process began when the judicial police confiscated the mobile phones of five soldiers suspected of mistreating immigrants in Odemir, finding videos and images.
This process, according to the deputy’s indictment, includes four cases of abduction and aggression against immigrants by NPR soldiers, who were then placed in the territorial post of Vila Nova de Milfontes in Odemira (Beja), which occurred between September 2018 and March 2019.
In the indictment dated November 10, 2021, the deputy stated that the defendants “acted in conditions of obvious hatred” for the victims, “clearly directed” at the nationality of immigrants from Hindustan.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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