Zap // Alfredo Cunha / Mário Soares Foundation // Facebook / Andrew Maia
Andrew has been fighting against Portuguese justice for over a decade. He just wants to be recognized as the son of Salgueiro Maia, from whom he even adopted the nicknames.
On Freedom Day, this Friday, Andrew Maia presented one: his goal is to get the Portuguese justice to recognize him as the son of April captain Salgueiro Maia.
Has a DNA tests That “confirmed that he is the son of Fernando José Salgueiro Maia,” he writes in the public petition, but “the court did not accept because the deadlines of expiration have been overtaken,” he explains.
According to a report of the objective, its objective is to see changed in Parliament the “Articles 1817, 1839 and 1842 of the Portuguese Civil Code”, as they limit the right to personal identity ”and“ do not guarantee the principle of equality that is due to all citizens, as well as their dignity ”.
This is a struggle that has been lasting for Andrew Salgueiro Maia for 12 years, who knew how to be the son of the military at the age of 22, when he confronted his mother with his physical similarities with Salgueiro Maia.
The mother then told her that she had met the April captain three years after the revolution in 1977, when, away from the military leaders, Salgueiro Maia was Perform administrative functions in Ponta Delgada. That’s when Filomena met.
But the years passed, and the Portuguese went to live to the US, where he married a Portuguese. When Andrew was born, he was still officially married to this man, so he is in official documents as Andrew’s father. However, the American will have been born the result of a Case between Mother and Salgueiro Maia on a summer vacation in the Azores in 1984.
Andrew has, in the meantime to change his name in US documents, and officially have the nicknames “Salgueiro Maia”. The amendment was made in 2008 after a positive opinion from a New Jersey court.
When the results of his DNA test arrived in September 2016, Andrew learned that he had 99.9996% likely to be the son of Salgueiro Maia.
The problem is that the request for paternity investigation, according to Portuguese law, can only be made up to 10 years after reaching the age of majority, or within three years from the date on which it was aware. This deadline has not been met, and Andrew’s struggle is now to change the legislation. Wants justice to take into account science.
