Mariana Mortagua’s defense points to “political motives” and asks to open a case.

The defense of Mariana Mortagua insisted this Monday on the postponement of the trial in which the BE deputy is accused of violating the regime of exclusivity for political comments on SIC Notícias, pointing to “political motives”.

In a mock debate held at the Central Criminal Court (TCIC), on a request to open proceedings against two citizens after the investigation was archived by the Ministry of State (MP), counsel for the BE leadership candidate confirmed that Mariana Mortagua did not there was malice in accumulating an MP’s exclusive subsidy for paid political commentary activities between October 2021 and February 2022.

“There is not a single sign that allows us to draw a conclusion about the malicious or deliberate behavior of the deputy. All the evidence points to a complete lack of knowledge on the part of the defendant,” said lawyer Carmo Afonso, noting: “This process has political motives, legal aspects and, well, but that is how Mariana Mortagua understands this persistent accusation of crimes that she did not commit.

This trial deals with the alleged crimes of embezzlement and misappropriation. The blogger has already hinted at the political contours of the case, citing lawyer Luis Gonçalves Pereira on Twitter, who represents one of the plaintiffs (Carlos Ferreira) and who was a candidate on Chega’s list in previous legislative elections. .

Luis Gonçalves Pereira referred to Mariana Mortagua’s “great experience” as an exclusive BE MP since 2011 and stated that the opinion of the Commission on Transparency and the Statute of Deputies, which ruled in February 2020 that the accumulation of remuneration through television commentary is incompatible with exclusivity in Parliament – this is before the start of the comment, so the blogger had to know.

Luis Gonçalves Pereira referred to Mariana Mortagua’s “great experience” as an exclusive BE MP since 2011 and stated that the opinion of the Commission on Transparency and the Statute of Deputies, which ruled in February 2020 that the accumulation of remuneration through television commentary is incompatible with exclusivity in Parliament – this is before the start of the comment, so the blogger had to know.

“The courts are those who understand whether there was a crime, and not the deputies decide whether there was a crime or not. It is not the decision of the Transparency Commission that prevents the accused from being convicted by the court,” he emphasized, hinting at the fact that this parliamentary committee believes the violation has been remedied, adding: “Intent here cannot be the basis for archiving.”

The arguments were repeated by the representative of another applicant (João Battista Loureiro). “The defendant should have known. It was malicious intent and he should be prosecuted for the crimes of embezzlement and misappropriation,” lawyer Eloy Nedert said.

Before the start of the investigation against Judge Gabriela Assuncao, the prosecutor’s office again defended the claim, repeating the investigation’s understanding and finding that “the defendant’s behavior is simply negligent.” The MP also highlighted the return of revenues when Mariana Mortagua learned of the Transparency Commission’s change of understanding on the matter and concluded that the MP should not be tried in court.

Mariana Mortagua’s case was solved in March 2022 by Senado magazine. At the root is a change in the Assembly of the Republic’s understanding of the exclusivity of deputies, which began to distinguish the reward for written commentary in relation to television commentary: the first allowed accumulation, since it was subject to copyright, and the second was made incompatible with the exclusivity subsidy.

The instructional decision will become known on Friday, from 15:00, without public reading and only by notification through the Citius lawyers portal.