Denialists tried to attack Gouveia e Melo: justice wants to try them

The case dates back to the pandemic, in 2021, when the Admiral was accused of being a “murderer” and “genocidal”. A month later, it was Ferro Rodrigues being dubbed a “pedophile”, alongside his wife.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) requested this Tuesday that all defendants in the case of covid-19 deniers accused of insults and attempted assault to Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo and Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues.

Twelve people were charged for violent acts committed against the admiral and the former president of the Legislative Assembly.

The situations occurred during the pandemic, one of them in August 2021, when denialist protesters against the then coordinator of the task force of the vaccination plan against Covid-19, next to the vaccination center in Odivelas.

The other happened a month later, close to parliament, when he was walking with his wife to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Insults “do not fall within freedom of expression”

In the investigative debate that took place at the Central Court of Criminal Instruction, at the Justice Campus, in Lisbon, the MP asked for an “order to pronounce all the defendants in the exact terms of the accusation”, in a session marked by an incident that led to defense of three of the four defendants who requested instruction to allege the “insane nullity” of diligence.

This is because one of the defendants gave a statement without all the defendants being represented by lawyers present in the room, which led José Manuel Castro, lawyer for the defendant Anabela Rodrigues, and the lawyer for the two defendants who were initially unrepresented and who was only called following the incident, to claim the nullity of the session.

At the end of the session, José Manuel Castro told Lusa that if the judge does not repeat this Tuesday’s session to remedy the alleged nullity there could be an appeal to the Court of Appeal, which will have a suspensive effect on the process, forcing him to stop until the Panel decides the appeal.

In his allegations, the MP considered the facts contained in the indictment to be sufficiently indictable, thus rejecting the defendants’ claims so that they would not be prosecuted for the crimes of which they are accused and rejecting the alleged nullities.

The MP considered, for example, that the allegation that the investigation is based on news from the media is not verified, noting that in the incident at the Covid-19 vaccination center in Odivelas, where the then vice-admiral Gouveia and Melo was approached by a group of denialist protesters, the investigation was based on a police report from the authorities present at the scene, whose testimonies in the process also attest “imminent danger of aggression” to Gouveia e Melo, only avoided by the intervention of these authorities.

In the case of the incident involving the former president of the Chamber of Deputies, the MP’s attorney argued that the “offensive expressions” directed in particular by Anabela Rodrigues to Ferro Rodrigues, including “pedophile”, cannot fall within “the right to freedom of expression”, highlighting that they are not related to the protest that took place outside a restaurant near parliament, which focused on the pandemic and vaccination.

The prosecutor considered that with the use of these expressions “the spiritual values ​​of the individual were affected”, and that they were directed, not at the actions of the pandemic, but at the character of the target and previous criminal proceedings, therefore “they are not justified”.

He also rejected that the expression “murderer” used against Gouveia e Melo could be understood as “killer of dreams and lives of minors” as a result of vaccination, as alleged by the defendant.

In Anabela Rodrigues’ defense, lawyer José Manuel Castro argued that there is not enough evidence to consider a conviction in court likely, which is why he asked for a trial not to be held.

He also admitted, in the case of Ferro Rodrigues, that the expressions used by the defendant were “rude, rude and ordinary”and that in the case of using the expression “pedophile” one may have resorted to a “false expression”, but justified by the “path he took in public opinion”, as a result of the involvement of the name of Ferro Rodrigues in the Casa Pia processwho investigated allegations of pedophilia at that institution.

And he added that those expressions find “constitutional support” in the right to freedom of expression, highlighting in this regard that the European Convention on Human Rights allows “a certain latitude” with regard to public figures.

José Manuel Castro also rejected that in the Odivelas incident with Admiral Gouveia e Melo the accused tried to get closer with the intention of attacking him and considered the MP’s accusation “manifestly forced”.

Defendant Sónia Costa’s lawyer – accused of harming physical integrity in the manner attempted against Gouveia e Melo, and who made statements today in court, when the session was still taking place behind closed doors – also rejected that her constituent had any intention of attacking the admiral, reiterating that he only approached him with the aim of filming what was happening.

The reading of the decision was scheduled for December 13th, at 11:30 am.