The Porto Court of Appeal finds that Ana Gomes’s “harsh” criticism of Mario Ferreira, calling him a “fraudster” in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter), has a “factual basis in its entirety, and is it not free if it is protected by freedom of expression.” Judges acquitted the former MEP, who was sentenced in September to a fine of 2,800 euros and compensation of 2,800 euros.
8 thousand euros to a businessman.
In this decision, The Relationship states that “the connection of the word ‘fraudulent’ with the matter of compelling public interest in the context in which it arose” is clear. Ana Gómez reacted to a tweet by Prime Minister António Costa after attending the christening of the ship built at the Viana do Castelo shipyards on the initiative of Mário Ferreira’s Mystic Invest group. He also described the sale of the Atlantis ferry as a “scam.”
The Porto report states that “criticism related to the alleged dishonesty and financial criminality of the victim, as well as the sale of the ship, is in the public interest, given the public status of the assistant and the defendant, the value judgment verbalized in the binomial fraudster/tax offender has equal stability in facts, which cannot be considered excessive.” Thus, it considers “accepting the justificatory significance of that value judgment, even if it is subjective, harsh and harsh, in the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression.”
DIVERSITY IN JUSTICE
The dispute between Ana Gomez and Mario Ferreira is a long-standing one. There is now another lawsuit in which Ana Gomes is accused of libel for writing that, by investing in aviation, a businessman from Porto intended to “imitate” (imitate) Omni, the company behind the plane in which it was seized 500 tons of drugs.
Businessman contacted
ABOUT CM contacted Mário Ferreira to get Rexão do Porto’s reaction following this decision, but had not received a response by the end of this issue.
DECISION WITHOUT CONSENSUS
The acquittal was not consensual. One of the judges voted against it, saying the publication “exceeds the bounds of legitimate expression” and agreed that freedomthe expression “cannot cancel the right to honor.”
Author: Manuel Jorge Bento This Duarte Faria
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.