Marco António Amaro is the eighth lawyer for José Sócrates to resign from the defense in 12 years. Four unofficial lawyers have already withdrawn from the Operation Marquis case. To resolver the impasse, could the former prime minister represent himself? SIC Verifies.
Once again, José Sócrates was left without a lawyer as part of the Operation Marquês process and, if this continues, the fingers of both hands will soon be lost. will arrive for both lawyers.
On social media there are those who be outraged by the trial – which has been going on for years – and argue that it should have a date.
But could it?
A establishes, in article 32, po3rd, that “the accused has the right to choose a defender and to be assisted by him in all acts of the process, the law specifying the cases and phases in which the assistance by a lawyer is mandatory“.
Already the determines, in article 64, the mandatory presence of the defender in interrogations, in certain situations, such as, for example, instructional debate or trial hearing or statements for future memory. If the defendant has not appointed a lawyer, he or she must be assigned one.
“AND mandatory the appointment of a defender when the accusation is brought against himand the identification of the defender must be included in the order closing the investigation”, says the text.
To SIC, lawyer Pedro Barosa explains that the law allows – on an abstract level – that a lawyer can defend himselfthat is, to represent oneself in one’s own cause, but never within the scope of criminal proceedings. Remembering what article 64 of the CPP says, in these circumstances Not even a lawyer can self-represent.
“Even though I have this quality and are registered with the Bar Association, the truth is that will not have enough emotional distance to have technical exemptionwhich would be highly affected for the purposes of, in particular, its defense strategy”, he explains.
As for the case specific of José SócratesPedro Barosa is clear: “It is not possible for engineer José Sócrates to represent himself at the trial hearing because the law provides expressly and establishes, without exceptions, that at the pre-trial hearing in criminal proceedings, the accused must be represented by a defense attorney”.
“There are no exceptions to this case, engineer José Sócrates has to be represented by a defender, by a lawyer, at the trial hearing, and even though he is a former prime minister, there are no exceptions“, he finishes.
The lawyer considers that this situation is being used by Socrates, pointing out “some abuse”. However, given the “exaggeration of resignations and changes of lawyer”, the court has “some mechanisms” at its disposal.
What mechanism can Justice resort to?
Pedro Barosa states that “representation through a defender” may be permitted, allowing, from the outset, “that the engineer José Sócrates himself, defendant in this case, not be at the trial hearing“.
“The Code of Civil Procedure, which is applicable when there is a gap in the Code of Criminal Procedure, provides for situations similar to these, in the civil sphere, in which the accused may not be present, can be tried in absentiaor under the terms of the criminal procedure law”, details the lawyer.
SIC verifies that it is…
Marco António Amaro became the eighth lawyer for José Sócrates to resign from defending the former prime minister in Operation Marquês in 12 years, being the fourth unofficial to give up. Despite criticism on social media suggesting that Sócrates should defend himself alone, the Portuguese law requires the presence of a lawyer in criminal trials, without exceptions.
