"I was excluded by my colleagues. They bullied me. They told me I was a rat." Those were the words of a 25-year-old police officer when asked by the presiding judge how he had felt in the aftermath of the incident at the centre of a trial in which four police officers stand accused of police violence at the former Luxembourg-Gare police station on 20 May 2023, facing charges of bodily harm, abuse of authority and obstruction of justice.
The young officer, who had been on duty the night in question, took the stand to describe what he had witnessed. A man had been arrested and subsequently beaten in the face and ribs while in his cell, allegedly by one of the accused. It fell to the young officer to write the arrest report and account for how a man had entered the police station without injuries, only to be certified shortly afterwards by a doctor with swelling around his eye and a bloody nose. The doctor also noted that the victim had stated he had been beaten by officers.
In his initial report, the young officer made no mention of any injuries. When the correctional office sought clarification, he turned to his superior, who instructed him to write down falsehoods, including that any injuries had been sustained during the suspect's arrest and immobilisation. "I had only been there three weeks. I was 22 years old," he told the court, by way of explaining why he had gone along with it at the time. He subsequently transferred to a different police station, where senior officers encouraged him to come forward and report what had happened.
The then head of the Luxembourg City Gare C3R police unit and his deputy both appeared before the judges to describe the conditions in which officers were working at the time. "We were operating in a fragile, hostile environment. We had to intervene. We couldn't allow things to continue," the former deputy group leader told the court when asked whether more forceful intervention had been necessary at the station. "The Gare area pushed us to cross lines in terms of police work. We couldn't get our footing." The unit was severely understaffed, reinforcements had been requested, and the officers sent in response were often green and inexperienced.
Both former supervisors described the main defendant as a dedicated and motivated officer. The former head of the unit described the officer as someone who loved his job, carried out his work properly and was not aggressive. He gave similarly positive assessments of the other three accused and could not fully explain how things had gone so wrong. He acknowledged however that a likely combination of frustration and pent-up anger had played a role. When the judge asked why a more senior officer might have advised the young policeman to falsify his report, the former group leader said he assumed it had been done to protect colleagues.
Two members of police management also took the stand. Former regional director Patrick Ewen told the court that had there been any indication of such dysfunction, action would have been taken. He acknowledged awareness of the difficult conditions at that particular station and the persistent difficulty in attracting experienced officers to work there. Former director general Philippe Schranz also testified, saying that in his view the pressure did not seem severe enough.
The trial continues on Thursday morning, when the four accused officers themselves are due to make their statements. Two face charges of voluntary bodily harm, while the remaining two are accused of assisting in the cover-up of the assault.
