In a press release, the environmental movement stated that with all appeals rejected, Francisco Pedro was ordered to pay a fine, convertible to 60 hours of community service.
“More than the penalty, the real punishment was the legal process itself, which spanned five long years and cost three thousand euros in legal fees alone,” lamented ATERRA.
In 2019, Francisco Pedro disrupted a speech by António Costa during a PS anniversary ceremony, protesting against the expansion of Lisbon airport and the construction of a new airport in Montijo.
He was quickly removed from the scene by security personnel as ATERRA activists, opposed to airport expansion, threw paper planes displaying a banner that read “more planes just for fun.”
“This marks the end of a legal persecution and a waste of public resources that lasted over five years,” emphasized the environmental movement.
“I was punished for exposing an environmental crime, exercising my right to peacefully protest. Meanwhile, complicit in environmental crimes, the State squanders public funds pursuing activists who expose these crimes,” said Francisco Pedro, as cited in the statement.
ATERRA asserted that the proceedings against Francisco Pedro exemplify “intimidation of human rights and environmental defenders through legal processes.”
“With legally and morally unfounded charges, aimed at restraining activists and silencing criticism, while human rights and environmental crimes continue,” the organization added.
Francisco Pedro accused the government of imposing “a prolonged judicial limbo to isolate, create stress, uncertainty, emotional and financial distress.”
“Depicting human rights and Earth defenders as criminals, aiming to exclude us from public debate and to use us as an example that authority should not be questioned,” added the activist.
ATERRA pledged to file a complaint against the Portuguese State with the Human Rights Council and the United Nations Special Rapporteur for environmental defenders.
Since 2019, the multinational Vinci “has been carrying out an illegal expansion of the capacity of Humberto Delgado Airport, without an assessment of environmental and public health impacts,” ATERRA reported.
Lisbon airport is “the most polluting infrastructure in the country,” with an “excessive growth in air traffic” that the movement described as “incompatible and contradictory to the climate commitments undertaken.”
