BE demands judge’s action but rejects ‘attacks’ in case of Portuguese-Brazilian twins during election campaign.

The head of the BE list for the European elections, Katharina Martins, said this Thursday that justice must have guarantees of independence from political power, but also prove that it has it in the way it acts.

“Electoral campaigns should not be a struggle between parties, the Ministry of Justice and the Public Ministry, for our part we will not do this. We will always have very demanding actions regarding the means that Justice has at its disposal, but also regarding how to act,” said Catarina Martins, speaking to journalists in Feira de Barcelos, Braga district.

The bloc candidate was questioned about the searches carried out by the Judicial Police (PJ) at the Ministry of Health and the Santa Maria Hospital as part of the investigation into the case of Portuguese-Brazilian twins treated in this hospital, and about the “timing” of this operation, which takes place during the election campaign campaign for the European elections is scheduled for Sunday.

“Management has and should have guarantees of independence from political power, and this is very important. I also believe that justice must prove its independence in its actions,” answered Katarina Martins.

For Katarina Martins, the case itself needs to be clarified, but the blocker warned that what people are “scandalizing about this whole case is the feeling that there are difficulties accessing the NHS”.

“So many people feel that sometimes it is so difficult to get specialist advice, to get the necessary testing, so many people wait for the necessary treatment and then see a case of favoritism, and it is shocking to everyone,” he stressed. .

The blocker emphasized that access to social networks “is also a European matter.”

The former Secretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales, was named as a defendant on Monday in this investigation, a source connected to the process told Lusa this Thursday.

We are talking about the treatment in 2020 of two twins living in Brazil, who received Portuguese citizenship, with the drug Zolgensma. The drug, which costs four million euros (two million euros per person), is designed to control the spread of spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease.

This case was published by TVI in November last year and is still being investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR), and the Inspectorate General of Medical Activities (IGAS) has already concluded that these children’s access to neuropediatric consultation was unlawful.