According to a source from the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI), the provisional suspensions of functions for 90 days, which can be extended, were proposed by the Inspectorate General of Internal Administration (IGAI) and now determined by Francisca Van Dunem.

The same source specified that this precautionary measure of provisional suspension of functions is determined by the fact that the disciplinary proceedings have not yet been concluded.

In relation to the other two soldiers, the source from MAI said that there was a delay in the process, but they should be suspended in the next few days.

The news of the suspension of the military was advanced by CNN Portugal.

On 17 December, IGAI opened seven disciplinary proceedings against the GNR soldiers suspected of assaulting and kidnapping immigrants in Odemira and opened an enquiry to ascertain the disciplinary responsibilities of the commander of the post where they were serving.

Seven soldiers of the National Republican Guard are accused of 33 crimes for allegedly humiliating and torturing immigrants in Odemira, three of these elements of the GNR are recidivists and had already been sentenced to suspended sentences for assaults on immigrants in 2018.

The investigation originated in 2019, when the Judicial Police seized the mobile phones of five military suspected of ill-treatment of immigrants in Odemira, having found videos and images that gave rise to this new process.

In the trial, whose sentence was read in July 2020, in addition to these three GNR elements, two other military personnel were also convicted, with one of them serving a six-year sentence.

Most of the 33 crimes of which the military are accused have been committed in material authorship, and the remaining five were allegedly committed in material authorship.

The Public Ministry considers that all the military involved in the case acted with "contempt" and "in manifested hatred" for the nationalities of the victims from the region of Hindustan.