• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• Police officers acquitted of torture

Police officers acquitted of torture

01 May 2004

A Court in Girona (Catalunya) has acquitted 12 Mossos d'Esquadra (the Catalan regional police force) of torturing a Moroccan citizen, Driss Zraidi, who was arrested for a traffic offence and taken to Roses police station in Girona on 3 August 1998. The ruling admits that Zraidi was the object of "not serious torture", consisting of insults, threats, vigorous shaking and pushing, and criticised the psychological pressure to which the detainee was subjected by an unspecified number of officers. It did not find that the evidence allowed any of the accused to be found guilty. In the words of the judge: "they insulted him with insults like son of a bitch and fucking Moor, they directed intimidating expressions such as "we'll kill you", but it "was not proven that the acts of physical violence undertaken against him went beyond mere shoving or pushing".

The judge claimed that Zraidi's testimony was unreliable, as he exaggerated his injuries, and she also found that the injuries suffered by Zraidi, including the fracture of three ribs, and a bruised eye, may have been the result of efforts by officers to restrain him as he violently opposed his arrest. The defence lawyer Joan de Anguera, claimed that the ruling confirms the existence of a "police that tortures", adding that the acquittals, which were motivated by the impossibility of attributing the offences to specific individuals, does not contradict the serious nature of what happened to Zraidi.

El País 21.5.04.