Valmiera police officers convicted over beating of detainee in forest

Three officers of the Valmiera precinct of the State Police's Vidzeme regional department in Latvia have been convicted. The article's headline says they pulled down a man's underpants and hit him in the stomach after detaining him as a suspect. The case matters because the violence against a detainee was committed by law enforcement officials themselves.

The detention

The officers came to the suspect shortly after midday. They were two inspectors and their direct superior, who held the post of deputy head of the precinct's Criminal Police Department. They arrived in an unmarked service car, one without police livery.

The officers did not properly explain the reason for the detention. They put the detained man in the back seat and drove him to a forest near Valmiera.

Violence in the forest

At the roadside in the forest, the officers stopped the car and began punching the detainee with their fists.

The source excerpt does not state what sentence the officers received, when the incident took place, or what the detainee was suspected of.