The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has confirmed the sanction of 90 days of suspension of duties for a police officer who offered to speed up the asylum application process for young migrants in exchange for sex in hotels in Ceuta and the Canary Islands.
In a ruling advanced by Eldiario.es and accessed by EFE, the TSJM dismisses the contentious-administrative appeal filed by the agent against the resolution of the General Directorate of the Police that imposed said sanction for a serious infraction.
The court considers that "it is fully demonstrated that the police officer had appointments in his hotel room with four different young men," one of them a minor under guardianship.
Assigned to the General Immigration and Borders Police Station, between August 11 and November 2, 2021, he was commissioned to the cities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Ceuta, with the mission, among others, of supporting the processing of asylum applications made in those locations, specifically, conducting interviews.
The sanctioned officer contacted young men of Maghrebi origin on the street, approached them, and after identifying himself as a national police officer, told them that, if they were asylum seekers, he could help them speed up the process, according to the records of the surveillance he was subjected to by Internal Affairs.
Subsequently, he summoned the young men to his hotel room, where they stayed for about forty-five minutes, after which they left with bags containing various items of clothing, cans of soda, and, on occasion, cash that they did not have upon arrival.
It is proven, according to the ruling, that the contacts that the accused established with the young migrants began on the same day that he registered the corresponding application for protection.
The accused evaded official channels and facilitated the processing of the corresponding asylum application for the migrants he had contacted.
The ruling includes the testimonies of several of these young men, all of whom agree that when they arrived at the hotel, the policeman "was in his underwear" and invited them to stay overnight in the room.
The surveillance by his colleagues from Internal Affairs confirmed that in Ceuta he expressly requested the same room every time, which had direct access through the stairs located at the entrance of the building outside the control of the reception staff.
When he traveled to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on official business, he always stayed in a different hotel from the rest of his colleagues.
The TSJ rejects the claim of defenselessness of the plaintiff and the violation of the principle of presumption of innocence and considers that the imposed sanction (90 days) is proportionate to the conduct and is not excessive.
