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Vol. 17 Issue 423 www.theolivepress.es July 12th - July 25th 2023
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Costa del Sol resident says he was brutally beaten up by Guardia Civil officers
A PERUVIAN expat has called in lawyers over claims he was beaten up by police and left in hospital with a ruptured bladder. In the alarming alleged attack, Diego Armando Torres, insists he was punched and kicked by six Guardia Civil agents on a Friday night. Even more shocking, he claims he was tied up and a plastic bag was put over his head nearly suffocating him. “I actually feared for my life, particularly when one officer told me ‘you’re going to die’,” he told the Olive Press this week. The incident happened when he and a friend were heading home to Sabinillas at 9:15pm, on June 16. Diego, 37, who arrived in Spain to work as a builder two months ago, had been out for some drinks in nearby Estepona. “We were pulled over at a motorway police check just before arriving in Sabinillas,” he explained. “They stopped us and asked my mate to step out of the car. I ini-
EXCLUSIVE By Alberto Lejarraga
tially stayed in the passenger’s seat, but then got out to ask what was going on. “The agents told me to be quiet and not to speak, but I asked again if everything was okay. “The police are now saying that I used force and kicked one of them, but this is not true. “Suddenly they snapped and forced me to the ground and I was handcuffed and taken to a police car.” His mate, from Bolivia, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed the heavy-handed arrest. “But when I dared ask a policeman why they were doing it, he replied; ‘do you also want to get hit?’ “Diego was put in a car and that was the last time I saw him that day,” explained his friend, who is also a builder. The victim claims he was then taken to the Guardia Civil barracks in Manilva where he was grilled on what he was doing in Spain. “I was very scared and just wanted to call someone,” he said. “Eventually they agreed but as I left my phone in the car I couldn’t remember any numbers apart from my brother’s, who lives in Norway, and they refused to call a foreign number.” It was then that a couple of the officers started slapping him in the face telling him to ‘shut up’. “I remember there were up to six of them taking turns to slap me,” he insisted. “After a while
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they took me back to the car. I was terrified and I started screaming for help. Then, one of the officers punched me in the face through the open window, cutting open my left eyebrow.” At this point the attack got far more sinister, he claims, after the police took him back to a different smaller and darker room at the station. “They tied my ankles and wrists together, covered my head with a plastic bag and BEATEN: Diego with ruptured bladder started punching and (far left) face with cuts and bruises and kicking me in the stomach,” he claims. around 3am with agonising stom“When I was about to asphyxiate, ach pain. they would remove the bag then Despite begging to go to hospital put it back on. They did this many it wasn’t until 9.20am that three times. Guardia agents returned and took “An officer also stepped on my him to a GP in Estepona, where the head, causing me injuries and doctor told the officers he had to bruises. They kicked and punched be taken to hospital urgently. me in the stomach until I passed He was taken to Marbella’s Costa out from the pain. del Sol Hospital, where he under“The worst ones were, I estimate, went emergency surgery on a ‘rupin their 30s and 40s, while two tured bladder’. younger agents, probably in their He also ‘presented bruises on the 20s, did not do anything and actu- head and face’ according to the ally tried to comfort me.” official medical report seen by the After the brutal assault, he was Olive Press. taken to the Policia Local Station Diego has since taken legal advice in Estepona, where he was put in and is currently waiting to hear a cell and fell asleep, but woke up back from a public defender to file an official complaint. A Guardia Civil official report claims Diego was arrested for kicking one of the
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