In February 2015, a black man who lived in Portugal's Cova da Moura, a poor neighborhood near Lisbon was arrested.

Five black men, aged 23 to 25, went to protest what they called the "arbitrary and violent" arrest of the man at the police station at which he was being held.

The protesters soon found themselves behind bars as well. At the time, officers said the men rallied a mob of dozens that tried to storm the station to break the man from Cova da Moura out of jail.

This was eventually proved to be a lie by eyewitnesses, and now all 18 of the officers involved in the incident have found themselves in hot water.

But not because they lied.

Instead, according to Al Jazeera, the officers have been charged with torture, kidnapping and crimes motivated by racism.

Now the officers, who together make up their station's entire force, will be soon be on trial for "torture and other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment" according to prosecutors. The courts will also try them for abuse of power.

The Diario de Noticias reports that the men were held for 48 hours, and that during that time were "victims of tremendous physical and psychological violence by officials of an authority dominated by feelings of xenophobia, hate and racial discrimination."

The prosecutor's office said on the website that the officers will be put on trial for "torture and other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment", unlawful imprisonment, grave abuse of their powers and violation of their duties.

Previously, two of the officers now accused faced disciplinary action related to the incident.

Ironically, none of the men arrested, including the first, were found guilty of any wrongdoing.