Marcelo emphasizes freedom of speech and refuses to comment on Chegi’s initiative

The President of the Republic refused this Wednesday to comment on the initiative voiced by Chega against him for the statements he made, but emphasized that in a democracy there is freedom of expression, including for holders of sovereign bodies.

“I don’t say this other than what I have already said, which is that we live in a democracy,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters at the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon.

“And democracy has a difference from dictatorship, which lies in freedom of expression, freedom to think. Freedom for everyone to think, agree and disagree, whether they take political positions or not,” he added.

Marcelo Rebelo de Souza emphasized that just as “ordinary citizens have this freedom”, “the holders of sovereign bodies also have this freedom” – as in his case.

The head of state subsequently refused to answer whether he considered himself slandered by Chega President Andre Ventura, who has repeatedly accused him of “betraying the country” for statements about possible reparations for crimes committed and looted property from former Portuguese colonies. .

“I will not comment on this, because, firstly, we are living in an election period, and secondly, we are in a democracy and freedom is possible,” he retorted.

When asked if he could take any action against Chega or, in particular, against Andre Ventura, the President of the Republic replied that he had “nothing more to say” on the matter other than what he had already said.

On Tuesday, President Chegi said that he would even take an initiative in the Assembly of the Republic to accuse the President of the Republic of “treason to the country,” which, however, has not yet been implemented.

According to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic, in the event of a proposal to “indict the President of the Republic”, which must be signed by a fifth of the deputies, a special parliamentary committee is created to prepare a report. A plenary session is then held within 48 hours to vote on the initiative, which requires a two-thirds majority for approval.

According to Article 308 of the Criminal Code, the crime of high treason is committed by “anyone who, by usurpation or abuse of sovereign functions: a) attempts to secede the mother country or transfer it to a foreign state or to subject all or part of the Portuguese territory to foreign sovereignty, or b) insults or exposes threat to the country’s independence.”

Article 328 of the Criminal Code states that “insulting or slandering the President of the Republic” constitutes the crime of insulting the honor of the President of the Republic and is “punishable by imprisonment for up to three years or a fine,” and when “insult or slander is committed in public, the penalty will be increased to “from 6 months to 3 years or with a fine of not less than 60 days.”

The same article states that “criminal proceedings are terminated if the President of the Republic expressly declares that he renounces them.” Statements by the President of the Republic on the colonial period, made at a meeting with foreign media on April 23, are as follows: “We are responsible for what we did there and continue to do so. after apologizing and it went away, we became friends, no. What we did there, in the massacre, had costs. Today it is still possible to pay the costs, these are the assets that were looted and not returned, they have proven that they were looted. So let’s see how we can fix this.”