BELMOPAN, Mon. Apr. 4, 2016–Three Belmopan policemen have been arrested and charged for brutalizing two boys who were sleeping in their homes.

Corporal Edwin Marin and Constables Jose Uh and Marion Alcoser were charged with aggravated assault in the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court on Monday. They were offered bail of $1,000 and ordered to return to court on April 28.

They have also been interdicted from duty pending trial by a police tribunal for breaching Codes of Conduct governing police officers, in line with the enforcement of the Police Department’s “Zero Tolerance of Police Brutality Policy.”

Police say that as a result of the beatings, a 16-year-old boy suffered a cut wound over the right eye and abrasions to the back and chest, and these injuries to him were certified as wounding.

The other victim, a 15-year-old boy, reportedly suffered a fractured skull and other injuries to his body. The boys, both of San Martin, Belmopan, told police that they were at home on Guadalupe Street, sleeping, when at about 1:00 Sunday morning, two policemen forced their way into the house by kicking down the door of the house, and then the room door, and they then beat the boys in their bed.

The young victims told police that they were kicked and punched all over the body by the two police officers.

The boys said that they were then taken to the police mobile unit that was parked outside in front of the house, where they were beaten again by another policeman who was waiting for them in the vehicle.

Afterwards, they were taken to the Belmopan Police Station.