During final arguments, the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the conviction of the social democrat.
At the time of the events in question, Luís Filipe Menezes was the former mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia in the district of Porto, having left in 2013 after 16 years of leadership. The socialist Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues was his successor as the head of the municipality, and he did not complete his third and final term due to being convicted of embezzlement in June.
The case originated from a Facebook post by Luís Filipe Menezes, who is the new mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, in October 2023, accusing Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, the then-mayor, of interfering in a licensing process for his land.
In the post, Menezes blamed Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues as the “mastermind” of “criminal maneuvers,” such as altering technical opinions to harm him, and announced that he had handed the case over to the authorities.
In the trial’s first hearing, which began on March 27, Luís Filipe Menezes admitted to the actions and reaffirmed the statements made on Facebook.
During his testimony, Menezes admitted that he was angry when he wrote the post but stated that he would have written it anyway because a law-abiding citizen “cannot, and should not, be subjected to this,” referring to the entire process involving his land’s licensing, where he intended to build a house that was never constructed.
“This is banditry, I have no other term, and it’s what I think,” he remarked at the time.
Luís Filipe Menezes is accused of aggravated defamation due to the status of the offended party, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, as well as slander and libel.
Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues is seeking compensation of 10,000 euros.
In addition, the social democrat was also charged with an offense against an organization, service, or collective person, aggravated by slander and libel.
However, two days after the municipal elections, the Vila Nova de Gaia municipality, still under the leadership of Marina Mendes, who replaced Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues after he was removed from office due to his conviction for embezzlement, withdrew the complaint against Menezes.
