PJ found clear evidence of extreme radicalization after the young man threatened to put bombs in the Lisbon mosque. Was hospitalized in an educational center.
It is an unprecedented case in Portuguese: a under 16 years was convicted of terrorismby the Family Court and Minors of Cascais.
The young man was admitted to an educational center under the educational guardianship law, after having delivered threats and hate speeches directed to Muslims and immigrantsincluding threats of placing bombs in the Lisbon mosque.
The case began, according to, with a complaint filed by the Mosque of Lisbon to the Judicial Police (PJ), following Several bomb threats e Racist and xenophobic messages Received by email.
The investigation was in charge of the National Terrorism Unit, which was able to identify the author of the messages, surprising when it was a minor, and the son of an immigrant mother.
During the demarches, the PJ searched the youth’s residence and found clear evidence of its extreme radicalizationconfirmed by analysis to your personal computer.
Authorities concluded that the radicalization process occurred in isolation through virtual contacts on far-right websites and forums, without evidence of direct recruitment by third parties.
Initially, the young man was released after the first judicial interrogation, taking into account his age. But a few days later, he published on the Internet pieces of the process, accompanied by comments seen as disrespectful directed to the police and the courts – behavior that led the judge to change the decision and to order his hospitalization in an educational center.
Note that Luís Neves, national director of the Judiciary Police, recently warned of increasing recruitment and radicalization of young people, especially through the internet. At this time, it is the “recruitment of ever younger layers through the internet”based on fake news and manipulation.
The case arises after another unpublished moment in the Portuguese justice in relation to terrorism: the law of terrorism was first applied to four of the six detainees of the Lusitanian Armillary Movement (evil), the far-right militia that was rejoicingly dismantled by the authorities and planned a robbery to the Assembly of the Republic and the Palace of Belém.
