The commission investigating the twins’ case will file a motion with the Bar Association based on the report sent by the mother’s lawyer, Wilson Bicalo, to justify confidentiality.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the commission and coordinators shortly after the hearing via videoconference of the case of the son of the President of the Republic, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, and was conveyed to journalists by the chairman of the commission investigating the case. The twins, of Portuguese-Brazilian origin, are being treated with Zolgensma at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon.
Rui Paulo Sousa noted that “a response will be prepared to the documents that Dr. Wilson Bicalho submitted to the commission.”
Deputy Chegi considered that the position of the Bar Association sent to the lawyer also “did not allow him to make the statement that he initially made” at the beginning of the hearing.
“It is in this sense that the commission will prepare a joint statement or joint participation, which will be sent, in principle, to the Order,” he said.
Asked whether it would be a complaint, Rui Paulo Sousa said the commission would “still analyse the content, whether there would be a specific complaint at all or simply the position of the commission in light of the statements made and, in fact, the way Dr Wilson Bicalho conducted the hearings.”
“But only after reaching agreement on this answer will it be put to a plenary vote. [da comissão] and will be sent, in principle, to the Bar Association,” he said.
Regarding Nuno Rebelo de Sousa’s refusal to answer any question asked by MPs, the president of the parliamentary commission of inquiry stated that the meeting of the board and coordinators this Wednesday did not address the issue.
“The parliamentary groups were given the right to analyse what happened here today in the hearing,” he said, noting that this was a different matter because Nuno Rebelo de Sousa “indicated from the beginning that this would be his position here today in the hearing, that he did not want to say.”
Rui Paulo Sousa said the request for “a possible breach of secrecy could also be analysed in order to then be able to make specific statements on some questions that MPs believe should be asked.”
Asked whether the commission was relevant given the numerous cases in which witnesses refuse to provide explanations, the president replied that “any commission whose purpose is to find out the truth about specific facts that occurred is never superfluous.”
“Until the commission began its work, not a single accused person was known,” he noted, also noting that this parliamentary investigative commission is pursuing a “political goal.”
The lawyer for the mother of Portuguese-Brazilian twins presented to the parliamentary commission of inquiry on Tuesday the opinion of the Portuguese Bar Association (PBA) that justified his refusal to make statements to the Assembly of the Republic.
Wilson Bicalyo was heard at the inquiry committee in Parliament on Friday and made an initial statement but refused to answer any questions citing professional secrecy. The lawyer said he had asked the OA for an opinion so that the secrecy could be lifted but was refused.
This position was criticised by the parties and the hearing was suspended before the end of the first participant’s questioning, Chegi, without being resumed.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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