Former deputy Duarte Lima was accused of the murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, in Brazil, in 2009. The start of the trial was scheduled for November 2022, but has been postponed – first due to a lack of notification of witnesses who are in Brazil and then due to the lack of recordings.
Former PSD deputy Duarte Lima will begin to be tried for the murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, in Saquarema, 2009, without the recordings requested from Brazil having reached the process.
In an order signed this Tuesday, and consulted this Wednesday by Lusa, the judge of the Sintra Court responsible for the case, Carlos Camacho, admitted that “in view of the inability of the Brazilian judicial authorities to transmit the process in its entirety (…) it remains to move forward to the discussion and judgment hearing”.
The document also states that procedural participants must be notified, with the judge determining a period of 10 days.
This decision comes after, last week, the through the Department of Judicial Cooperation and International Relations, sent a letter to the Court of Sintra indicating that the Brazilian authorities “reported that it was not possible to fulfill the request, as the requested images were not located”.
On the side of the Brazilian authorities, the PGR was told, according to the documents contained in the process, that “no possible media were located [gravações] related” to the Duarte Lima process.
Portugal has made several requests to the Brazilian courts to send the information that is missing in the process and that is necessary to carry out the trial. However, the answer is always the same, with Brazilian courts saying that they no longer have procedural documents related to Duarte Lima.
Requested recordings have “manifest relevance”
In a request made last year, the Public Prosecutor’s Office explained that the recordings requested by Portugal have “manifest relevance for the good decision of the case and for the discovery of material truth”.
Former deputy Duarte Lima was accused of the murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, in Brazil, in 2009. The start of the trial was scheduled for November 2022, but has been postponed – first due to a lack of notification of witnesses who are in Brazil and then due to the lack of recordings.
The Public Ministry believes that Duarte Lima will have received amounts transferred by Rosalina Ribeiro into his bank accountwhich referred to the inheritance of Lúcio Thomé Feteira.
The former PSD deputy reportedly insisted that Rosalina Ribeiro sign a statement stating that the money transferred belonged to Duarte Lima. Given the refusal, argues the Public Ministry, Duarte Lima killed Rosalina Ribeiro.
