Death of Detained Ukrainian
Causes Uproar in Portugal
New York
Times - 16 Dec. 2020
The man’s
death after what prosecutors called “inhumane treatment” has raised questions
about the country’s detention policies and prompted calls for the interior
minister to step down.
Arriving in
the Lisbon airport without a work visa in March, Ihor Homeniuk, a Ukrainian
citizen, was sent to a nearby detention center after refusing to board a flight
out of Portugal.
Days
later, he died of asphyxiation in the center after border inspectors handcuffed
and beat him, according to Portuguese public prosecutors, who said he was the
victim of “inhumane treatment.”
Mr.
Homeniuk’s death has reverberated across Portugal, calling into question the
country’s immigration and detention policies and prompting calls for the
interior minister to resign.
Three
immigration and border inspectors have been indicted on homicide charges in the case. And last Wednesday, the head
of Portugal’s Immigration and Border Service resigned
as part of a restructuring ordered by the interior ministry after Mr.
Homeniuk’s death.
Opposition
lawmakers have called on the minister of internal affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, to
step down, saying that it took too long for the death to be investigated and
that support for the family came too late.
“The
pressure is enormous to change things for the better,” said Miguel Duarte, a
spokesman for Humans Before Borders, an advocacy group for migrants and asylum
seekers.
Adding
that “detention centers in Portugal were not a topic in the media until very
recently,” Mr. Duarte said that a public outcry over Mr. Homeniuk’s death could
be a watershed moment in addressing how migrants are treated in the country.
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Mr.
Cabrita has denounced what he said was negligence and a cover-up by border
officials, leading to the resignations of several officials in the immigration
department. Ukraine’s foreign minister
said last week that the Portuguese government had offered compensation to Mr.
Homeniuk’s family, with the amount to be determined by an ombudsman.
Mr.
Cabrita has resisted calls to resign, saying that his fate would be up to the
prime minister, who has supported him.
Mr.
Homeniuk’s death in March did not garner widespread attention in the mainstream
news media, which was largely focused on the coronavirus pandemic at the time.
But a series of articles on the episode in subsequent months led to the border
officials’ resignation and a pledge from Mr. Cabrita that operations at the
Lisbon airport detention center would be improved.
Portugal’s
Immigration and Border Service did not respond to a request for comment on
Wednesday. But Cristina Gates, who resigned as head of the service last week,
said in an interview in November with
RTP, a public service broadcaster, that she had little doubt that Mr.
Homeniuk’s treatment was “a case of torture.”
The case
also reflects larger issues about how foreign migrants are treated in Portugal,
rights advocates say. Most asylum seekers arrive on tourist visas before
eventually applying for refugee status, and some have reported mistreatment,
said Pedro Neto, the executive director of Amnesty International in Portugal.
Asylum centers are overwhelmed in the country, and more resources are needed to
support them, Mr. Neto said, suggesting solutions like body cameras for
officers and better training and working conditions.
In a
description of the charges in September, prosecutors said that Mr. Homeniuk had
arrived on a flight from Turkey and had been interviewed in part by one
inspector who did not speak Ukrainian and another who was not a qualified
interpreter.
Mr.
Homeniuk’s family said through a lawyer that he had traveled to Portugal to
look for a job and therefore did not need a visa. He had worked in traffic
management and in construction, the lawyer said.
After
refusing to board the flight home, Mr. Homeniuk showed signs of agitation at
the detention center, prosecutors said.
The next
day, prosecutors say, three inspectors took Mr. Homeniuk into a room,
handcuffed him and used an extendable baton to kick and punch him. One
inspector reportedly sent away those who came by the room, saying, “This is for
no one to see.” Mr. Homeniuk was left handcuffed for about eight hours before
being found nonresponsive, prosecutors say.
Initially,
medics noted his death as a “respiratory arrest after a convulsive crisis.” But
prosecutors said an autopsy found that he had suffered several fractures and
had been left in a position that constricted his chest and left him to
suffocate.
Mr.
Homeniuk’s widow, Oksana Homeniuk, told the cable
news channel SIC Notícias last week that she had received no support
from the Portuguese government. “I never thought something like this could happen
in a European country — in Europe, where human rights are above everything,”
she said.
The
family’s lawyer, José Gaspar Schwalbach, said the family was
seeking 1 million euros, or $1.2 million, for moral and economic damages,
adding that Mr. Homeniuk was the family’s breadwinner.
“No one
will give her husband back again,” Mr. Schwalbach said in an interview of Ms.
Homeniuk, who has been left to raise the couple’s children, a 14-year-old girl
and a 9-year-old boy.
“No one
will see this little girl to go to high school, to go to university, to get
married,” Mr. Schwalbach said, adding that Ms. Homeniuk had received a letter
of condolence from the internal affairs ministry on Saturday.
And while
a financial settlement would give Ms. Homeniuk comfort, he said, “she wants
justice — she wants to see them convicted.”
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