A public ministry report into the widely televised beating of a father and grandfather after a football match in Guimarães last May has concluded that PSP commander Filipe Silva used “excessive, unwarranted” force.
Silva faces criminal charges of qualified offences to physical integrity, falsification of documents and prevarication and negation of justice.
“He used coercive measures that were legally available to him as a police officer in an excessive way”, explains the accusation now formulated against him – adding that Silva then lied about what had happened in his subsequent police report.
“He alleged that José Magalhães spat at him and tore his uniform, which did not happen,” explains national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
CM’s television channel CMTV caught the unedifying incident on live TV, highlighting the trauma of the Magalhães children as officers whipped out their batons and started attacking their father (click here).
CMTV’s report showed Magalhães senior being punched and pulled – with the result being a nation in outrage the following day.
Filipe Silva has since been suspended from duty for two periods (200 days followed by 180 days), but he is now understood to be back at work leading a criminal investigation team back in Guimarães.
What happens next remains to be seen – but the public ministry dispatch leaves no doubt that Silva “affirmed facts that did not correspond to the truth, in a bid to justify his behaviour”.
As José Magalhães’ lawyer Sónia Carneiro has said: “Luckily television stations like CMTV exist”, otherwise the attack might never have been filmed and it would have ended up as the word of a police officer against those of two members of the public that he had attacked.
