<p>LISBON, Portugal — A court on Monday sentenced three Portuguese immigration inspectors to between nine and seven years in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian immigrant who was in custody at Lisbon airport.</p>
<p>The three inspectors were convicted of grievous bodily harm, which a former senior immigration official said amounted to torture, leading to the 40-year-old man’s death during interrogation. Two of the men received nine-year prison sentences and another got seven years.</p>
<p>The Lisbon court found that the inspectors kicked and beat the handcuffed man with batons, breaking his ribs and causing death by asphyxiation.</p>
<p>The man, Ihor Homeniuk, had tried to enter Portugal without a valid visa in March 2020 and was detained after refusing to board a flight back out of the country.</p>
<p>The Portuguese government last year paid more than 700,000 euros ($850,000) in compensation to Homeniuk’s wife and two children, who live in Ukraine.</p>
<p>The case caused a scandal and brought the resignation of the head of Portugal’s immigration service. It also hastened a planned restructuring of the service.</p>
