The Sao Tome government is demanding an investigation into the release of several criminals who attacked and kidnapped a Portuguese woman.

Sao Tome’s justice minister on Tuesday defended an investigation into a medical report that led to the release due to motor disability of a maximum-sentence prisoner who had been on the run since Friday after attacking and kidnapping a Portuguese man. citizen.

“This is a prisoner who is well known by the criminal investigation authorities, the judicial system, the courts are well known, but the judge decided to release on the basis of a report that confirms that the prisoner has mobility problems, and now we are putting everything to the police.” the system is pursuing the one who could not escape yesterday,” Ilsa Andado Vaz said in a statement to Luse.

“I think that at this stage we must find out on what basis the report was drawn up, on what basis the judge authorized the release of the prisoner, who, judging by his materials and the reports of the prison service, is 25 years old. [de prisão] and if the maximum sentence applied in Sao Tome and Principe had not been set by law at 25 years, he would have had to serve a sentence of 50 years,” said the Minister of Justice of Sao Tome.

The Portuguese national was attacked and kidnapped in her home on Friday but was rescued by police minutes later, a police source told Lusa.

According to the source, the suspects took the woman into the forest in a stolen car, which broke down after crashing into a fence near the house, but they were noticed by someone who reported it to the police, who arrived on the scene and after shots were fired, one of the two suspects was detained .

The second suspect is a former prisoner with a history of crimes, involved in several thefts, robberies and armed robberies, and is still on the run.

A man under 30 years of age was recently released by a court after receiving a medical report that determined he was disabled due to motor impairment of the lower extremities, coupled with intense pressure from lawyers and some human rights activists. a situation in which a man found himself in a wheelchair.

“We have all witnessed a huge movement towards the release of the fugitive, in response they have accused the state and the government of violating human rights,” said the Minister of Justice, defending the awareness of “the society of Sao Tome and all those who speak and disseminate information on social networks” that “the crime problem is not political and is not a joke on social media.”

“When we talk about crime, we must be serious, we must stop playing politics and we all must participate, because crime affects the country, it affects security, it affects the life of every citizen of Sao Tome,” he stressed. Ilsa Beloved Vaz.

The Minister also noted that the Doctors’ Order, the Ministry of Health and the courts have mechanisms to verify whether the decision in the medical report that led to the release of the suspect was made in accordance with the law.

On the day of the kidnapping of the Portuguese citizen, the government of São Tomé met in the Council of Ministers and decided “that the police authorities should strengthen preventive measures, showing zero tolerance for crime,” which, it admitted, was growing in the country with the emergence, most often, of crimes not typical for the society of Sao Tome, “which has always been considered peaceful.”

According to a statement accessed by Lusa, the executive branch also decided to “continue Operation Safe City with the mobilization of all forces” and begin “the process of arms control and reconstruction.”