Two cops jailed for beating handcuffed prisoner
TWO PANAMA policemen who beat a handcuffed young prisoner at a police station have been sentenced to four years in prison.
TWO PANAMA policemen who beat a handcuffed young prisoner at a police station have eache been sentenced to four years in prison.
The Seventh Criminal Court handed down the sentences to Boris Rodríguez Morales and Mario Alberto for beating Rafael Martinez on Wednesday, May 21.
The defendants claimed that the victim had fallen downstairs but a report of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said the wounds and bruises Martinez sustained were not compatible with their claims..
Several people at the scene of the arrest testified they had witnessed the beating of Martinez after he had been arrested and handcuffed, and Martinez said he was kicked,and beaten with a rifle butt.
When he was taken to the Calidonia headquarters he not taken to the Guard Room but to a room, where the two policemen beat him for 20 minutes.
In his ruling , the judge said that both police beat the victim as an exemplary punishment for allegedly resisting arrest.
He also noted that during the testimony of the police it was established that Martinez was not brought into the emergency room of the headquarters of Calidonia, as established police procedure , and was alone with one of them.
