Court Convicts Former Nurses’ Order President of Contempt and Disobedience

The former president of the Order of Nurses, Ana Rita Cavaco, was sentenced this Thursday to pay a fine of 1,700 euros for the crimes of aggravated insult and disobedience in the investigation of an investigation opened by the Ministry of Health in 2019.

According to the ruling of the local criminal court of Lisbon, to which Lusa had access, judge Ana Antunes Calçada also sentenced the defendants Alexandre Oliveira and Jorge Baltasar to fines of 900 and 720 euros respectively, also for disobedience, but acquitted the current president Luís Barreira of the same crime, realizing that before the inspectors of the General Inspectorate of Medical Activities (IGAS) there was an “overwhelming doubt” about his actions.

The court rejected the defendants’ defense and emphasized that IGAS had the authority to conduct the investigation at the request of the Ministry of Health, in accordance with an order from then Minister Marta Temido, and that the inspectors “had the legitimacy to act without requiring any court order” to access the premises of the Order of Nurses, as the former president claimed.

“Along with the legitimacy of the actions of the IGAS as an inspection body, we cannot fail to mention the obligation to cooperate, so that it facilitates the services of trade union organizations, in this case the Order of Nurses,” the decision reads, and it also emphasized that there is “no need for prior announcement” on the part of the inspectors about their trip.

While stressing that the three defendants were “perfectly aware that they had a duty to collaborate,” the court also stressed that the crime of disobedience was completed “when the defendants failed to provide the requested documents (defendant Alexandre Oliveira), were not prepared to testify (defendant Jorge Baltazar) and obstructed the investigation (defendant Ana Rita Cavaco).”

As for the charge of aggravated insult attributed to Ana Rita Cavaco for addressing the inspectors as “unfeeling”, “animals”, “savages” and “madmen”, the judge found that the expressions used were “appropriate to harm the honour and attention to which they were addressed, (…) such expressions cannot be regarded as mere outbursts”.

Thus, in the decision, the general prevention needs for Ana Rita Cavaco, Jorge Baltasar and Alexandre Oliveira were assessed as “medium/high”, referring to the frequency of such acts of disobedience. As for the former bastion and the crime of insult, the court emphasized that “the general prevention requirements are high”, resulting in the three defendants being fined.

The two visits by IGAS inspectors to the Order of Nurses (OE) on 8 and 13 May 2019 are in question, with the former president claiming that the inspection action had a “political motivation”, allegedly based on public disagreements between the organization and Marta Temido, which entailed failure to comply with the obligation to cooperate in making statements or providing documents.