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The Union of the Investigation and Inspection Service of the Foreigners and Borders Service – SCIF-SEF assumed, from the first hour, the seriousness of what happened in the space equivalent to the temporary installation center (EECIT) of the Humberto Delgado airport, in Lisbon . The death of Ihor Homeniuk, for which we deeply regret, acquires a seriousness for which responsibility must be assumed.
From the point of view of justice, the trial of the three accused inspectors – without prejudice to the presumption of innocence – will contribute decisively to the clarification of what happened and the due rendering of accounts. From the perspective of the operation of the SEF, it is up to the National Directorate to promote the necessary actions so that an identical event does not occur again. Regarding the political dimension, it is up to the Government to decide and provide the SEF with the necessary means to do so.
Secondly, we observe that the SEF and its inspectors have always been guided by actions based on humanistic, civil and democratic principles. It is within this framework of action that SCIF is reviewed, that SCIF strives for the performance of inspectors and that SCIF seeks to intervene internally and in the public space.
Third, the dramatic death of Ihor Homeniuk has brought permanent and unprecedented scrutiny to the Temporary Installation Centers and SEF. CIT and EECIT became centers of political and public attention. This dramatic episode revealed the insufficiency of this type of equipment, since there is only one Temporary Installation Center in Porto (Santo António Housing Unit) and Similar Spaces in the main international airports, which dates from the respective legal regime of 1994.
This dramatic episode made it urgent, both for the Government and for the National Directorate of the SEF, to act in the safeguarding of fundamental rights and in the conditions of installation of foreign citizens hosted in these centers, in the promotion of the working conditions of SEF professionals, specifically with Recovery of the Security and Surveillance Career. And also in defense of the image of the SEF, whose inspectors are, in their vast majority, dedicated professionals and good people.
In a democracy, all powers are legitimate, whether formal or informal, and neither is a substitute for the other. In the same way, none of them – Legislative, Executive, Judicial and Press – is above criticism or democratic scrutiny, since neither replaces the other, an inalienable condition of the rule of law.
Therefore, it is necessary to reaffirm, once again, that the atrocious episode in question cannot result in a general anathema, according to which all SEF inspectors are responsible. This is not true! And therefore, it is unacceptable.
SCIF, myself, its president and the vast majority of inspectors are today where we have always been: on the side of truth, on the side of principle and on the side of the rule of law. We want the material truth of the facts to be found out and justice done, it hurts whoever hurts. But, of course, we vehemently reject the guilt we don’t have and the anathema we don’t deserve!
The author writes according to the new spelling agreement.
