Four police officers are standing trial at Luxembourg City court over an incident that took place at the former Luxembourg-Gare police station on 20 May 2023. Some of these police officers were also involved in an incident that occurred at the same police station on 18 May 2023, as reported yesterday.
The case centres on allegations of police violence, with the officers facing charges including bodily harm, abuse of authority, and obstruction of justice.
One officer, who was not on duty at the time, is accused of striking a man in custody in the face with his fist. He is charged with torture and intentional bodily harm.
What exactly happened between 9pm and 10pm that evening remains unclear. The officer admits hitting the man, but claims it was with an open hand. A forensic medical expert said this could not be ruled out, but that the injuries were more consistent with a punch.
The officer told the court he had reacted in the moment, claiming the man had approached him with his arm raised. He also referred to a previous encounter two months earlier, during which he said the same individual had threatened him with death.
The alleged victim, however, denies making any such threat and says there was no justification for the attack.
At the time of the incident, the officer and the victim were not alone in the cell. Two other officers entered the room with the accused, one of them fully stepping inside. Both claim they did not see what happened.
At least one officer was aware of prior tensions between the accused and the detainee. In court, he supported his colleague's version of events. When asked by the judge why he had not reported the incident, the 30-year-old officer replied: "I was happy to be part of the group. I enjoyed working there and I didn't want to be the one who betrayed someone."
A third officer said he had not noticed anything, despite being in the same room, explaining that he had been on his phone at the time. Asked why he was present, he said: "Just a coincidence, I happened to be there at the wrong time, in the wrong place." He recalled hearing a thud but did not think anything of it.
Following the incident, two junior officers were instructed to clean blood from the cell and from the detainee before a doctor arrived. Doctor visits are in line with what they described as usual procedure.
One of them later told investigators that the man had needed support to walk afterwards. He had been told the injuries resulted from resistance during restraint. The visiting doctor later noted that the detainee had a swollen eye and was intoxicated, but could not determine whether the injuries were caused by a fall or an assault.
The case came to light when the officer who had initially placed the man in custody submitted his report. The internal review unit noticed that no injuries were mentioned. When the officer raised the issue with his superior, he was initially given suggestions to amend the report without further inquiry.
That superior is now also on trial for obstruction of justice. "If we can no longer trust what a police officer writes, then we might as well pack up. That is the seriousness of this case", the presiding judge told the now 38-year-old defendant.
The former head of the Gare station said he had initially not considered the incident serious enough to warrant escalation and feared that involving the public prosecutor would trigger lengthy proceedings. He insisted that such violence was not widespread at the station, although he acknowledged that officers could at times act forcefully.
Several officers face charges of obstructing justice, including one accused of kicking the detainee in the ribs earlier, after he refused to remove his belt.
The officer denies this, stating that he used a restraint technique to bring the man to the ground. He is also accused of being complicit by failing to intervene while the alleged assault took place.
According to the investigator from the Criminal Investigation Department (SPJ), there was a strong sense of solidarity among officers at the station, adding that nothing about this incident had been reported externally.
He said the violence clearly appeared to have originated from a single individual, while others remained silent out of misplaced loyalty.
It also emerged that two of the officers involved were not on duty at the time. One had arrived early for his shift, as he said was common practice, while the other had been drinking beer and waiting for a colleague to finish work.
The trial is set to continue on Wednesday afternoon. A separate case involving police officers, including one from this case and another officer, is due to be heard next week in a criminal court case.
