Note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalls that “it was 45 years ago that Camarate claimed the lives of Francisco Sá Carneiro, Adelino Amaro da Costa, and their companions.”
“The case was brought to court at the initiative of many Portuguese, which found there was not enough evidence either to conclude a crime occurred or to dismiss the possibility of an accident, despite numerous parliamentary inquiry committees in the Assembly of the Republic having concluded in favor of the former,” it states.
The Head of State, who previously expressed frustration at the lack of “a judicial decision with a more solid evidentiary basis” regarding this case, argues that, “45 years later, what matters now is to reaffirm memory and gratitude.”
“The memory of two founders of our democracy, among the first to leave us. The gratitude for the indelible mark their lives left on the construction of freedom, democracy, European integration, and the genesis of the community of Portuguese-speaking countries,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa adds.
On December 4, 1980, the Cessna plane carrying then Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro and Defense Minister Adelino Amaro da Costa crashed in Camarate, north of Lisbon.
Also victims of the plane crash, among the crew and accompanying party, were Snu Abecassis, Manuela Amaro da Costa, António Patrício Gouveia, Jorge Albuquerque, and Alfredo de Sousa.
