The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas will try next February 24 in Gran Canaria a National Police agent accused of torturing two migrant people in the Temporary Center for Foreigners' Attention (CATE) in Arrecife, in Lanzarote.
According to the Prosecutor's indictment, agent A.B. had been assigned on a service commission to the General Commissariat of Foreigners and Borders of Lanzarote within the framework of Operation Triton, a police investigation that dismantled an international network dedicated to the trafficking of minors from Lanzarote and Gran Canaria to France. From that operation, there are at least thirteen minors missing from a center in Arrecife. Most of them were girls.
The Public Prosecutor's Office accuses the National Police agent of allegedly assaulting on January 1, 2024, at 4:00 p.m., at the CATE of Arrecife, a migrant person who was being held at the police custody center, as is customary in the first 48 hours in which they arrive on the island. The Prosecutor's Office accuses him of allegedly slapping and kicking him, causing him "anguish, fear, bewilderment, discomfort, and unease."
At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office accuses the national police officer of assaulting a second migrant person during an interrogation as part of Operation Triton. The agent was trying to find out who had organized the transfer of migrants from the African coasts to Lanzarote and allegedly slapped him hard on the cheek, causing him pain and "anguish, fear, bewilderment, discomfort, and unease."
The two injured parties renounced "any type of compensation that might correspond to them for the injuries and moral damages".
The Public Prosecutor's Office requests three years and three months in prison for the agent for the crimes of torture and against moral integrity.
