Mário Cruz / Lusa
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates
On the 10th anniversary of his arrest, the former prime minister compares Operation Marquis with Influencer: “the difference it makes in choosing the judge”, he writes, describing a “slander campaign against an innocent person”.
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates reaffirms that the Marquês process aimed to prevent his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic and prevent the Socialist Party (PS) from winning the 2015 elections.
In the opinion article published this Thursday in , on the day in which the 10 years of José Sócrates addresses all steps of the process and states that it is not a common law process, but an exception process.
“Political frame-up” against an “innocent citizen”
“The Marquis process was never a judicial process, but a political setup — prevent my candidacy for President of the Republic and prevent the Socialist Party from winning the 2015 legislative elections.
“The only difference in relation to the recent Influencer Process is that, 10 years ago, they didn’t forget to choose the judge. The difference it makes choosing the judge”, he stressed.
At this moment, according to José Sócrates, there is no accusation in the process (annulled in 2021), nor a ruling (annulled in 2024), but “the persecution continues”.
“The lawfare operation strictly follows the procedures: manipulated the judge’s choicefabricated false and absurd accusations, failed to meet all deadlines and violated judicial secrecy, in order to feed journalism and make it their main ally. ‘Lawfare’ is like this: it is not about gaining a better seat at the negotiating table – it is a war of extermination. In Portugal it lasts 10 years”, he emphasizes.
In the article, José Sócrates once again says that the Portuguese State carried out a smear campaign “against an innocent citizen”highlighting that there are several ways to tell the story and one of them is lying.
“10 years of dictatorship”
José Sócrates recalls that 10 years later, the story of the process is also one of “dizzying history and continuous change in the accusation” and also “of arbitrary violence”.
“Ten years in prison in public opinion. Ten years in which the Portuguese criminal system behaved like a dictatorshiparresting and defaming an innocent person, while choosing the investigation judge who would best serve the Public Ministry”, he says.
In the article, he also highlighted that the journalism fulfilled its role.
“Journalism publicized it, journalism justified it, journalism whitewashed it – delaying maneuvers are those of lawyers, there are no delaying maneuvers from the State. The postponement of investigation deadlines, the postponement of instruction deadlines, the State’s failure to comply with any type of deadline is seen, by journalism, as the search for ‘material truth’ or as a response to the call ‘difficulty proving’ or even as a way of overcoming the usual ‘lack of resources’”, he said.
It was 10 years ago…
José Sócrates was exactly 10 years ago at Lisbon airport, when arriving from Paris, and a decade passed on that day The trial hasn’t started yet of Operation Marquês, a process marked by successive resources of the former Prime Minister.
In the process, it was through the MP, in 2017, that 31 crimesnamely passive corruption, money laundering, falsification of documents and tax fraud, but in the instructional decision, on April 9, 2021, judge Ivo Rosa decided to acquit Sócrates of 25 of the 31 crimespronouncing him for trial only for three crimes of money laundering and three of forgery.
A subsequent decision by the Lisbon Court of Appeal on an appeal by the MP, and in January determined that a total of 22 defendants would go to trial for 118 economic-financial crimes, revoking the instructional decision, which sent only José Sócrates, Carlos Santos Silva, former minister Armando Vara, and Sócrates’ former driver, João Perna.
