IL reports that PGR ended with ‘coup theory’ against previous government

The president of the Liberal Initiative said on Tuesday that the republic’s attorney general had put an end to the previous government’s “coup theory” and said politics and justice must enter a “new phase of mutual respect.”

“I believe that this interview ends the coup theory. The prosecutor explained the reasons for including the famous paragraph from Portuguese politics, these are reasonable reasons, and therefore I believe that those who took responsibility for the coup theory, the State, who wrote the newspaper articles, trying to shape public opinion, with this interview ended this activity, because no one believes in this coup theory anymore,” he said.

Rui Rocha spoke to journalists in Parliament in response to an interview given by the Republic’s Attorney General Lucilia Gago to RTP on Monday evening.

The Liberal leader was referring to a paragraph in a ministry statement released last November that revealed the existence of an investigation into the then prime minister and which led to the dismissal of António Costa.

Rui Rocha believed that “António Costa did not continue his role as Prime Minister because he did not want to, it was a personal decision, and the same António Costa, who is still being investigated for the same facts, wanted to go to the European Council.”

“This is therefore a personal decision for António Costa, because otherwise what would prevent him from continuing to work in government, in the context of the ongoing investigation, should prevent him from running for the European Council,” he said.

The IL President also said that he understood that the Attorney General of the Republic, “speaking of an organised campaign, was tempted to answer these questions, she spoke of the unreasonable intervention of the President of the Republic, she also spoke of the unreasonable words of the Minister of Justice.”

“I understand this temptation, I would prefer that we enter a phase in which politics and justice are not in such a dialogue, and therefore I believe that both politicians and representatives of justice must enter a new phase of cooperation and mutual respect,” he said.

Rui Rocha also said the prosecutor “took too long to give this interview,” believing that some of the hostility in the discussion could have been “preserved” if these clarifications had been given earlier.

In an interview with RTP, the republic’s attorney general noted that there was “an organised campaign by people who should not have been involved, an organised campaign in which a wide range of people who are currently involved or have been involved in the past are also involved with important responsibilities in the life of the nation.”