Two PSP officers from Olhão, Jorge Sousa and Pedro Barbosa, began their trial at the Faro Court for kidnapping and homicide of a Moroccan man, Aissa Ait Aissa, who died in March 2024 after approximately 20 days in the Intensive Care Unit at Faro Hospital. The officers denied any responsibility for the death and respond to charges of two counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of qualified homicide.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office indictment, the facts involved the alleged removal of the victim and another man from Olhão in a patrol car, followed by violent assaults. The prosecution maintains that the officers transported the victims outside the city and that Aissa Ait Aissa was violently beaten, later dying from his injuries.
In the first session, the officers explained that they were called twice for disturbances caused by the men at supermarkets in Olhão. Since the employee refused to file a complaint, they decided, "with their consent," to take them home to remove them from the conflict zone. The men went along handcuffed and were left at a location known as "the scrap yard road" in Pechão, with the officers describing the immigrants as appearing intoxicated but "peaceful" and "conscious."
The Public Prosecutor's Office considered that the officers "acted freely and knowingly" and "grossly abused" their authority. A medical expert ruled out the possibility of being hit by a vehicle and confirmed that the cause of death was an intentional assault that caused a depression in the left side of the skull, possibly caused by an extendable baton. Aissa Ait Aissa died from brain contusion on March 28, 2024.
