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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