The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) found journalists Carlos Rodrigues Lima and Enrique Machado guilty of violating judicial secrecy, thereby annulling the acquittal of both in a trial court in February.
According to the decision of November 8, which the Lusa agency had access to today, TRL decided to punish Carlos Rodríguez Lima (currently working for the magazine Visão, but at the time of the events he was part of Sábado) with a fine of 150 days and 1,500 euros for three crimes , related to violation of court secrecy, and Enrique Machado (currently at TVI/CNN, but then working for Correio da Manhã) with a fine of 105 days and 1005 euros for one offense of violation of court secrecy.
The issue in this trial was the dissemination of news by two journalists about the cases of Benfica, E-Tupeira and Operasan Lex in 2018.
“The news could and was, in fact, conveyed through many different public media outlets. What happens is that both defendants decided, when reporting the news, to include the content of the investigation, as well as a number of procedural actions, content that is subject to judicial secrecy; that is, if the defendants had chosen to provide only information permitted by law, there would have been no discussion of any violation of said judicial secrecy,” reads the ruling, which Lusa had access to and which was put forward today by Público.
The decision in the case, which TRL classifies as confidential, was signed by judges Maria Margarida Almeida, Ana Parames and Ruy Teixeira – the latter having already approved the trial of the journalists.
According to TRL, there was primarily an “error of judgment” that discounted the idea that the news released to investigate these court cases did not cause harm and that the journalists acted with “possible malice.”
The trial court considered that the right to information takes precedence over judicial secrecy, but the judges refuted this understanding. They emphasized that “judicial secrecy does not interfere with the public’s right to obtain information” and that information considered important can be provided without violating judicial secrecy.
The court’s decision also justified the use of penalties against journalists with the argument that “the need for general prevention is high.”
“The offenses they have committed are crimes in which the immediate and immediate interest protected is the public interest, namely the interest of the State in the administration or administration of justice,” the judges said.
Pedro Fonseca, then coordinator (and now director) of the National Anti-Corruption Unit (UNCC) of the Judicial Police, was also accused in this trial of abuse of power, breach of judicial secrecy and making false statements. However, the then investigating judge, Carlos Alexandre, decided not to put him on trial, a decision that would later be confirmed by the Lisbon court after an appeal by prosecutors.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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