A deputy filed a complaint of slander by Chegi deputies against Katarina Martins

Prosecutors have filed several complaints of defamation by Chegi deputies against blocker Katarina Martins for statements made in January 2022, according to an order that Lusa accessed this Friday.

These are three complaints, the first of which was filed by 10 Chegi MPs elected in the 2022 legislative elections against then Left Bloc MP Katarina Martins, accusing the former party leader of defamation following statements made on the night of January 2022 in Legislature. elections.

Then Catarina Martins said, referring to Chegu, that “every racist deputy elected to the Portuguese parliament is another racist deputy.”

In the archived ruling, the Prosecutor’s Office (MP) emphasizes that at the time of filing the applications, January 30, 2022, the mentioned Chegi leaders had not yet taken office as deputies, so the applicants were asked to act as assistants in the process, something that did not happen.

In the second complaint of aggravated libel filed by the President of Chegi Andre Ventura, as well as statements in the televised debate of the former leader of BE on January 5, 2022, the MP states that at the time of the establishment of the facts, Katarina Martins was a member of the Assembly of the Republic and enjoyed parliamentary immunity, which means that “in the performance of her parliamentary duties, she does not bear criminal liability for the voices and opinions that she expresses.”

In the third complaint, concerning possible defamation of MP Gabriel Mita Ribeiro, the MP claims that, in addition to the parliamentary immunity that Katarina Martins enjoyed at the time, “sufficient evidence of the commission of the crime was not collected.”

In her defence, Katharina Martins said in the libel complaints that it characterized “Chega’s policy in the use of her freedom, political and party, as well as freedom of expression.”