Representative Eva Cruzeiro, from PS
Socialist deputy Eva Cruzeiro asked the president of the Assembly of the Republic to open an investigation into Chega deputy Filipe Melo for shouting words at him that he defines as racist and xenophobic.
In a letter addressed to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, to which Lusa had access, the deputy Eva Cruzeiro refers to an incident that occurred on October 29th, during a hearing with the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, when the issue of immigration was being debated.
“He shouted at me, go to your land“, says the PS deputy. An incident that, from her perspective, justifies the opening of an investigation by the Parliamentary Transparency Committee into the Chega deputy Filipe Melo.
The deputy, who was recently the target of a party colleague, also has a another complaintthis one from the socialist deputy Isabel Moreira and which has already received a favorable order from the President of the Assembly of the Republic.
In this case, Filipe Melo is accused of having directed “gestures considered disrespectful to Isabel Moreira, namely, and made signs to silence her, in an alleged attempt to silence her”.
Eva Cruzeiro says that her case happened following her intervention, which was later responded to by the president of Chega’s bench, Pedro Pintowho accused the socialist deputy “unfoundedly” of having delivered a hate speech.
“During and after this intervention by Pedro Pinto, several Chega deputies uttered expressions and adopted behaviors which I consider justifies a detailed analysis of the recordings from the cameras in the plenary”, says the young deputy, with a degree in Political Science and International Relations and a postgraduate degree in Financial Management and Human Rights.
“Furthermore, there was a particularly evident episode and perceptible to everyone present: Mr Filipe Melo, member of the Board of the Assembly of the Republic, visibly excited and standingrepeatedly insulted the PS bench. And, specifically, he shouted to me: turn to your landaccompanying the aforementioned expression with explicit gestures that indicated my expulsion”, details the deputy, known by her stage name Eva Rapdiva.
These words, in conclusion, ended up confirming, “in real time”, what he had just stated in plenary about “a worsening of racist and xenophobic discourse in the public space, legitimized and disseminated by the extreme right”.
Filipe Melo, Chega deputy
Eva Cruzeiro maintains that “the facts described violate the principle of civility and institutional loyalty, enshrined in article 5 of the Deputies’ Code of Conduct, and the duty of deputies to intervene with civility, refraining from behaviors that do not honor and respect the dignity of the institution”.
Still according to the PS deputy, despite Filipe Melo benefiting from the parliamentary immunity provided for in the Constitution“the facts in question are so serious that, in any other context outside the exercise of parliamentary functions, could constitute criminal liability (…), which punishes conduct of discrimination and incitement to hatred or violence based on race, color or ethnic and national origin”.
Eva Cruzeiro also highlights that, not constitutional plane, the statement “go back to your land”, addressed to a Portuguese citizen and based on her racial origin, “simultaneously violates the principle of equalityby denying full citizenship on the basis of race; the right to personal identity, by questioning the national identity of the targeted citizen; and the foundation of human dignityby treating her as a second-class citizen.”
“It is clear that the “go back to your land” that was addressed to me did not refer to the city of Lisbon, where we were and where I was born, but Africaas always happens when a black Portuguese person is attacked in this way”, indica.
For Eva Cruzeiro, “racism and xenophobia are unacceptable under any circumstances and continue to affect, in a profound and persistent way, thousands of people in the country, from childhood to the end of life”.
Filipe Melo is being targeted criminal complaint presented to the Judicial Court of the District of Braga for Joaquim Pinto do Valeleader of the Barcelos municipality of his party. The case involves alleged personal loans for a total value of 9,000 euros, which the deputy never returned.
The 44-year-old deputy is deputy secretary of the Board of the Assembly of the Republic and president of the district of Braga do Chega. He had already publicly admitted to having had debts exceeding 120 thousand euros before his election, in 2022, guaranteeing at the time that the financial problems were “overcome”.
In the past, it was sentenced to pay 80 thousand euros in enforcement proceedings and had part of thesalary seized for a debt of 15 thousand euros to Colégio João Paulo II, in Braga.
Grand-nephew of Cónego Meloa notable figure on the Catholic right in the post-25th of April era, Filipe Melo worked for the PSD and CDS before joining André Ventura’s project. In addition to his position as deputy, he also serves as councilor in the Vila Verde Chamber, elected in the last municipal councils.
