crime
USA: Ex-police officer convicted of torturing black people
The Justice Department in Washington says that a verdict has already been decided against two of the men. photo
© Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
In a small town in Mississippi, six police officers commit an unprecedented act of racist violence. Two of them have now been sentenced to long prison terms.
Two former police officers from the US state of Mississippi are facing criminal charges Torture and mistreatment of two black people sent to prison for a long time. A judge in Jackson sentenced the two white men, ages 31 and 46, to 20 and 17.5 years in prison, the Justice Department in Washington said. Four other defendants in the case are scheduled to learn their sentences on Wednesday and Thursday.
According to the information, the group, all white, forcibly entered the two blacks’ apartment in the small town of Braxton in January last year without a search warrant. There, the officers at the time handcuffed the men, beat and kicked them, gave them electric shocks and humiliated them with racist insults. They are also said to have abused their victims with a sex toy.
Garland: “Heinous attack”
In a kind of mock execution, the perpetrator, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, shot one of the victims in the mouth and broke his jaw, the Justice Ministry said. Even “while the victim was lying bleeding on the ground,” the police tried to cover up their crime. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke of a “heinous attack” by officials who had actually sworn an oath to protect their citizens.
According to consistent media reports, the crime was triggered by a call from a neighbor who complained that two black people were living together with a white woman. A third party then informed the group, which was also said to be known as the “thug squad”. In handing down the sentence, the judge reportedly said a prison sentence at the upper end of the possible range was more than justified given the egregious nature of the crime.