Walter Finch
SIX officers from Catalunya’s Mossos d’Esquadra police have been sentenced to a year in prison for beating, spitting on and verbally abusing a young black man in a racially motivated assault.
During the attack, the officers even fired a gun into the air to intimidate the victim and hurled racist insults such as ‘monkey’ and ‘human garbage’.
The attack occurred in Manresa, Barcelona province, in January 2019, when the six police – including a sergeant – went to a property to carry out a court order to identify the occupants.
Once inside, they found the young black man, identified as Wubi D.C, and proceeded to push him and spit on him.
They then escalated the brutality, punching him in the head and kicking him in the side while throwing garbage bags at him and calling him racist insults.
They even called him ‘Kunta’, according to the prosecution, a reference to the fictional character Kunta Kinte, who was a young 19th century slave in the USA from the 1976 novel ‘Roots’ by Alex Haley.
The victim, who recorded the ordeal on his phone, managed to escape his tormentors and run to a nearby field.
As he ran, one of the officers fired a shot into the air in an attempt to scare the young man, although it did not hit him.
Wubi hid out in the bushes for a time but was eventually persuaded that it was in his best interests to return to the property and cooperate with the police who had beaten him up.
But when he did, the six police officers simply started beating him again.
The prosecution initially demanded three and a half years in prison, but in the end they accepted just one year and an official disbarment from the force for six months. Which means in two years they could be back in uniform.
The officers also reached an agreement with the prosecution that includes a €300 fine and €80,000 in compensation for the victim.
However, they may avoid prison entirely by participating in a program for equality and non-discrimination. Meanwhile, they are forbidden from approaching the victim within 500 metres for the next four years.
The officers were found guilty of a crime against moral integrity and a minor injury, with the aggravating factor of racism for five of them.
The sixth officer had the same sentence but was considered not to have played an active role in the events.
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