Four GNR members accused of kidnapping and assaulting three minors in Palmela

The Public Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against four GNR soldiers from Palmela suspected of committing three crimes of aggravated kidnapping, one of abuse of power and another of aggravated insult, announced this Thursday, March 26, the Regional Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Évora.

The four soldiers from the National Republican Guard (GNR) of Palmela, three men and one woman, are suspected of kidnapping and attacking three minors in the early hours of April 11, 2024, who left without authorization the Centro Jovem Tejo, a Private Social Solidarity Institution (IPSS) that at the time accompanied young people and adults with addictive behaviors and dependencies (CAD), but which currently only monitors adults, in Quinta do Anjo, in the district of Setúbal.

According to a note published on the official page of the PGR of Évora on the internet, one of the accused is also accused of committing a crime of coercion and the only accused in the case was also accused of committing a crime of document forgery and a crime of slanderous reporting.

When the four soldiers were presented for their first judicial interrogation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked that they be suspended from duty, but this request was not accepted by the criminal investigation judge nor, later, by the Court of Appeal of Évora.

Now that the accusation has been filed, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has once again asked for the suspension of the duties of the four GNR soldiers from Palmela.

“Because the military acted in the exercise of their functions and now seeing the possibility of conviction reinforced, the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to promote to the criminal investigation judge the suspension of the exercise of functions of the aforementioned accused”but no note.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office justifies the request for suspension of functions with what it considers to be “the strong danger of continued criminal activity and the intense social alarm and feeling of insecurity that such behaviors, practiced by members of the police forces, have generated and still generate in the community”.

Contacted by the Lusa agency, a source from the Setúbal Territorial Command of the GNR sent any explanation about the case to the Public Ministry, confirming only that, after the events, the soldiers in question were distributed across several GNR posts.

The Lusa agency also contacted the Centro Jovem Tejo, which declined to provide a statement.