The spokesperson for the CNE, André Wemans, stated that dozens of complaints were received against André Ventura’s posters, which were accused of conveying xenophobic political messages and inciting racism.
“Our obligation, since these are public crimes and a complaint has been made, is always to forward these complaints to the Public Prosecutor”, he said.
In a decision approved on Tuesday and reviewed today, the CNE argued that, as the presidential elections have not yet been officially scheduled, “it lacks the authority to intervene in this matter outside the electoral period,” thus deciding to send the complaints to the Public Prosecutor to determine whether any criminal offense has been committed.
“This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must obey the law” are the phrases on André Ventura’s two posters.
The CNE emphasizes that, although “the right not to impede propaganda actions” is a “corollary of freedom of expression,” the content of the propaganda is “naturally subject to certain limits” as defined by the Penal Code.
Regarding the two posters in question, the CNE states that they “make explicit and concrete references to a group of people based on their origin and another group based on their ethnicity.”
The commission considers that there are “situations where the concrete content” of texts or images in propaganda materials is subject to analysis in cases such as defamation, offense to democratic institutions, incitement to disorder, or hate speech.
“Thus, the broad domain of protection of freedom of expression reaches its boundary when it may undermine the essential content of another right or intolerably affect social morals or the fundamental values and principles of the constitutional order,” the CNE states in the decision.
Eight Roma associations announced their intention to file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor and are considering submitting an injunction to have the posters removed.
The PS also called for the intervention of the Public Prosecutor to impose possible sanctions because of the posters.
The Presidential candidate and leader of Chega, André Ventura, refused today to remove the posters referring to the Roma community and Bangladesh, arguing that his freedom of expression is at stake.
