FOUR POLICEMEN were required to appear at the Departamento de Investigação e Acção Penal in Évora earlier this week, to be formally identified by Leonor Cipriano, who is accusing the police of beating her when she was being questioned about the disappearance of her daughter Joana. However, Leonor only recognised two out of the four men as having interviewed her and said that the pair had not been involved in the assault.
Leonor and her brother João, who were living in Figueira (Portimão), were convicted earlier this month of the little girl’s murder and have each been given long prison terms. The accused was interrogated in October of last year and, according to a report published by Expresso newspaper, the police beat the woman in order to get her to reveal the whereabouts of Joana’s body. Leonor has presented photographs that show injuries to her face, namely two black eyes, which, according to the inspectors, werecaused during a suicide attempt.
