The decision, obtained by Lusa, indicates that the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TIC) has decided not to proceed with the trial of Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues after he requested an investigation stage. This optional phase, which aims to determine if a case should proceed to trial and under what conditions, concluded that it could not be stated “with full certainty” that he committed the crime of defamation.
“It cannot be confidently asserted, with the minimum required level of certainty at this procedural stage, that the defendant [Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues] committed the crime of defamation as claimed by the plaintiff [Luís Filipe Menezes],” the decision states.
As a result, the case has been appropriately dismissed.
Social Democrat Luís Filipe Menezes, who was elected mayor of Gaia in the October 12 elections, accused Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues of defamation and sought compensation of no less than 2,500 euros to be donated to an association.
The case arose from a post made by Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues on his Facebook page on October 6, 2023, while he was leading the municipality.
“As I am unable to comment on the text of an obsessed individual who pursues me, I write here that I will facilitate the clearing of his lies in court. Using vile language and posing as someone significant in deceit, he stoops to his own level,” wrote the former mayor.
Without directly naming anyone, the socialist noted that the person in question didn’t deserve to be named but rather pitied.
“The swindler, cowardly because he writes what he lacks the courage to say to my face,” he added.
The post was allegedly a response to an earlier post by Luís Filipe Menezes accusing Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues of interfering with a licensing process for his land, labeling him as the “ringleader of criminal tricks.”
Following this post, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues accused Luís Filipe Menezes of aggravated defamation, for which Menezes was ordered to pay him compensation of 2,500 euros.
