José Sena Foulão / Lusa
The Chief of Staff of the Armada, Admiral Henrique Gouveia and Melo
The Supreme Administrative Court declared the sanctions attributed to the military of NRP Mondego, punished in the time of Admiral Henrique Gouveia and Melo, following the mission failed in March 2023.
On March 11, 2023, alleging security issues, 11 Navy military personnel They refused to embark on the Portuguese Republic (NRP) Mondego to accompany a Russian ship north of Porto Santo Island.
At the time, the Admiral Henrique Gouveia and Melo He moved to Madeira Island to publicly scold the military who refused to fulfill the attributed mission.
Then a punishment that the South Central Administrative Court (TCA) considered.
Sailors, which include sergeants and squares, were suspended with penalties between 10 and 45 days. The suspension was initially decided by the vice-mirror naval commander and confirmed by the then-chief of the staff of the Armada, Gouveia and Melo.
STA confirms illegitudes
The Navy decided to appeal the TCA decision, but now the SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT (STA) also declared the illegality of sanctions applied by the Navy to the military of NRP Mondego.
The judgment of the STA, dated April 30 and released this Tuesday on the court’s official page, DISCUSSING THE NAVEL APPEALwhich contested an previous decision of the TCA, which had already considered null the sanctions applied to the 11 military personnel aimed at this process (of the 13 accused of insubordination).
According to Sta, the disciplinary sanctions process contains various addictions and failures which result in the “nullity of the disciplinary sanctioning decision by defects of the procedure”.
“A stained curriculum”
Now, the defense of the military admits to asking compensation for moral damages.
Contacted by Lusa, the lawyer of the 11 military personnel, António Garcia Pereiraclarified that the decision, being of the last instance and, therefore, a decision definitiveIt means that no negative effects of the sanctions applied can not subsist.
The lawyer also recalled that the suspension days were fulfilled and that there “A stain” in the curriculum of these military associated with this process.
The defense intends to see guaranteed the “responsibility of the hierarchy”, which in the present case, the top of Admiral Henrique Gouveia and Melo.
Garcia Pereira considered, therefore, “very likely” to move forward with a claim for compensation, namely for moral damages.
