“What I am about to say may be a bit radical, but we need to be very clear with the European Court on this matter. Portugal has been condemned several times at the European Court, justice must take its course, and politicians should not interfere with justice, however, if I am prime minister, I will refuse to pay José Sócrates anything,” stated André Ventura before a visit to Bairro Sá Carneiro in Leiria.
The leader of Chega asserted that the “European Court will do as it sees fit,” but, “if necessary, Portugal will leave the European Convention [on Human Rights],” which obliges adherence to this European Court.
André Ventura found it unthinkable that José Sócrates held a press conference to announce the lawsuit against the Portuguese State, “for being mistreated,” given that the former prime minister is “accused of robbing the State” and all citizens.
“No court in the world with the slightest decency should condemn Portugal to pay compensation to José Sócrates. People are living miserably here, and we are going to give I don’t know how many more millions of euros to an individual who robbed us,” he argued.
André Ventura also mentioned that he would summon the Minister of Justice to parliament to provide some explanations regarding this case.
José Sócrates filed a criminal complaint today against the Portuguese State at the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Operação Marquês case.
The former prime minister considered that a “writing lapse” that in 2024 revived the Operação Marquês case, which “was dead,” was the “last straw” that led to filing a complaint against the Portuguese State.
“It was the last straw that led me to decide to file a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights. It’s too much,” stated José Sócrates at a press conference in Brussels, accompanied by lawyer Christophe Marchand.
The former prime minister considered the “writing lapse” as “a ruse that served only to manipulate the limitation periods and to want to bring” the case to trial: “The writing lapse is just that.”
José Sócrates was referring to the decision by the appellate judges, who deemed there was an error in the legal qualification of the conduct of the accused in the Operação Marquês case.
“In essence, we are all here because of a writing lapse […], it is said that seven prosecutors made a mistake, they all made a mistake at the same time, and they made a mistake in the most noble part, which is the legal qualification,” he commented.
