“Different from any decision that would ensure an impartial, objective, equidistant selection, according to public interest and the purposes of current regulations, these two defendants, in common agreement, chose a selection of people they intended to benefit, giving them priority access to vaccination based on family relationships and personal acquaintances”, states the verdict from the TdR released today on the website of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Guarda District.
According to the Public Ministry (MP), in an initial decision on October 7, 2024, the Vila Nova de Foz Côa Court, in the Guarda district, issued an order of non-indictment for the two defendants for the alleged co-authorship of a crime of abuse of power.
The court found that “the objective circumstances for that legal type of crime were not indicated, as there was no indication of undue vaccination, nor the subjective circumstances of abuse or violation of duty, and consequently, the case was ordered to be archived.”
Dissatisfied with the decision, the Public Ministry filed an appeal, and by judgment on July 8, 2025, the Coimbra Court of Appeal decided to overturn the challenged ruling, “which must be replaced by another that indicts the defendants.”
A source from the Vila Nova de Foz Côa Court told the Lusa agency that the case is still pending in the Coimbra Court of Justice.
The court understood that it was “sufficiently indicated that the defendants did not proceed, or ensure that a selection of users of the Health Center was carried out based on a fair, equitable, and impartial criterion, considering comorbidities and age of the users, despite the existence of dozens of users of this health unit in such conditions who were thus deprived of priority in the vaccination order.”
The investigation was carried out by the Regional Penal Action Investigation Department of Coimbra, assisted by the Judicial Police Department of Guarda.
