The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has refused to accept a complaint against the Portuguese state filed by the defense of Ruben Oliveira (“Xuxas”), who is on trial for criminal association, drug trafficking and money laundering, considering it inadmissible.
The complaint invoked several violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the alleged unfairness of the proceedings, the alleged lack of impartiality of judge Carlos Alexandre and the alleged violation of the right to the presumption of innocence due to media coverage of the case, as well as violations of judicial secrecy by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the judge and court officials that damaged his reputation.
However, in a decision released this Thursday, the Strasbourg-based court dismissed Xuxas’ defense’s complaints about the case and the judge as “premature”, since the case is still ongoing in the Portuguese courts and all legal remedies have not been exhausted, pointing out that he could file a new lawsuit with the ECHR if he is convicted and has already appealed to all national courts.
“The court reiterates that, in a democracy, high-profile cases will inevitably attract media comment. However, this cannot mean that any media comment inevitably prejudices a defendant’s right to a fair trial or violates his right to be presumed innocent,” the decision reads, regarding the allegations against the media.
As for the alleged violations of the secrecy of justice by the various judicial agents involved in the Xuxas case, the ECtHR pointed out that no criminal complaints had been made and that these would have been ineffective, as well as stating that “there is no evidence of leaks of confidential information by the authorities in the case”, and therefore that the complaint “is therefore manifestly unfounded”.
The same reasoning was used by the court regarding the alleged violation of the right to reputation by the media, noting that it is necessary to first exhaust the Portuguese judicial channels, through a civil action or a criminal complaint, and only after that can it seek recourse to this European body.
“For these reasons, the court unanimously declares the complaint inadmissible,” concludes the ECtHR.
The trial of Xuxas and 18 other defendants began on April 2 at Lisbon’s Central Criminal Court.
According to the prosecution’s indictment, the criminal group, led by Ruben Oliveira, had “close links” with drug trafficking organizations in Brazil and Colombia and had been importing large quantities of cocaine from South America since mid-2019.
Xuxas, named by investigators as one of Portugal’s biggest drug traffickers, has been in pre-trial detention in Monsanto’s high security prison since the end of June 2022.
