The Lisbon Court has denied Luís Montenegro’s request to remove Chega’s posters comparing him to José Sócrates, as reported by SIC Notícias.
The television channel stated that the court rejected the Prime Minister’s injunction, citing the “right to freedom of expression” as the reason.
Responding to the court’s decision, André Ventura, speaking from Viana do Castelo during his campaign activities, described the ruling as a “victory” for Chega and praised the Judiciary’s “courage.”
“The Court gave Chega a victory today over what had been the Prime Minister’s intention to remove Chega’s posters, to silence Chega, to take away our freedom of expression. I wanted to commend the courage of the Judiciary’s decision because today freedom of expression was defended. The fight against corruption was defended”, he stated.
Meanwhile, Luís Montenegro, speaking from Porto de Mós, expressed his disappointment with the court’s decision. “I regret the decision, but I have to respect it. We knew that on one side it was a personal offense directed at me and on the other the conduct of political action – in my view, it exceeds freedom of expression and does not coexist with opinion, but the court did not see it that way”, he remarked.
Luís Montenegro had filed an injunction against Chega and André Ventura over the party’s posters associating him with the former Prime Minister José Sócrates, who is a defendant in the Marquês case.
The Prime Minister criticized the poster as “shameful” and defamatory. He argues that the issue is him being placed alongside Sócrates, a former government official “involved in a corruption process” for the past decade.
