The unofficial lawyer appointed to represent José Sócrates says he will speak to the former prime minister. Upon leaving the hearing this morning, he said that the 48 hours of postponement he requested would be the minimum to be informed of the process.
The unofficial lawyer appointed to represent José Sócrates in the This Tuesday, he regretted that he was not allowed to learn about the process, adding that he will try to speak to the former prime minister to decide the next steps.
“I understand that it would have been better for our defense to have been granted a period of 48 hours. Now we will analyze what was actually produced in court and, afterwards, I will try to speak to engineer José Sócrates and we will see what we can do next”, said, after the lunch break, José Ramos.
The lawyer who accompanied José Sócrates since he was detained in November 2014, to represent the former prime minister (2005-2011) in Operation Marquis, justifying the decision with “deontological reasons” and speaking of a “mock trial”.
As the trial cannot take place without all defendants having a defender, the court ordered the appointment of an unofficial lawyer, usually intended to represent defendants in economic need.
In his first intervention, José Ramos – who is unaware of either the Operation Marquês process or – asked for 48 hours to find out what is at stake, a request that was rejected by the president of the panel of judges, Susana Seca, as it was an urgent process.
The trial continued, with two witnesses being heard: a former secretary and a former finance minister of the former governor.
José Sócrates, 68 years old, is convicted (accused after instruction) of 22 crimes, including three of corruption, for having allegedly received money to benefit the Lena group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES) and the Algarve resort of Vale do Lobo in different dossiers.
In total, the case has 21 defendants, who have, in general, denied committing the 117 economic and financial crimes that are globally attributed to them.
The trial has been taking place since July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and has sessions scheduled until at least December 18, 2025.
