The Court of Appeal of Porto (TRP) has acquitted a man convicted by the Ovar court of throwing a bag of six kittens into a dumpster, deeming a provision criminalizing animal cruelty to be unconstitutional.
The March 8 TRP decision, seen by Lusa this Friday, granted the defendant’s appeal and overturned the contested decision, clearing him of the crime of abuse for which he was convicted in the first instance.
The case dates back to November 1, 2021, when the defendant found six newborn kittens in the backyard of his residence in Ovar, Aveiro district.
According to the facts, which were found to be proven, the defendant took the cubs from the site, placed them in a plastic bag and dumped them in an existing dumpster near his home.
In November 2022, the Ovar court sentenced the defendant for cruelty to a pet to a 100-day fine of five euros per day for a total of 500 euros, acquitting five crimes of cruelty to a companion. animals.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the defendant applied to the Court of Porto, which refused to apply the rule contained in article 387 par. 3 of the Criminal Code, which punishes with a fine or imprisonment anyone who, without good reason, physically abuses a companion animal, as it is unconstitutional.
“Since the dignity and welfare of animals are not enshrined in the text of the constitution as protected interests, we must conclude that the criminal injunction for which the defendant was convicted is unconstitutional and, as such, cannot be enforced by the courts,” the decision says. GTO.
Cruelty to companion animals has been a crime since 2014, and several people have already been convicted at first instance.
However, the Constitutional Court (CC) overturned those convictions on the grounds that they were not covered by the Constitution.
Recently, the Public Ministry, together with the TC, requested that a norm criminalizing cruelty to animals be declared unconstitutional with general binding force. The claim of unconstitutionality comes after three TC decisions on the matter.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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