Founder of Chega, expelled from the party, challenges the decision in the Constitutional Court

José Diaz, founder and former Vice President of Chega, has appealed to the Constitutional Court (TC) his expulsion from the party by the decision of the National Council of Jurisdiction.

Since August, the former leader and activist of party number 14 has been removed from office by a decision of the ethics commission. Last week, he was expelled from the party by a decision of the Council of National Jurisdiction, published on the Chega website.

Jose Diaz appealed this decision to the TC, demanding that “the imposed disciplinary sanction be declared invalid, as a result of which the contested decision was canceled.”

The document, which was mailed on Monday and accessed by Lusa on Tuesday, is signed by Fernanda Marquez López, a lawyer and member number three of Chega, and asks the Ratton Palace judges to declare “the disciplinary action null and void.” procedure” and that the discussion is “unconstitutional for violating the principle of proportionality, fairness, necessity and adequacy”.

The appeal mentions that the former leader, who criticized leader André Ventura, is “accused of publishing that calls into question the honor and good name” of the president, leaders, deputies and national bodies. parties, namely in the “facebook social network and WhatsApp group”.

What is at stake, he says, is criticism of party deputies in a private group supporting Nuno Afonso (who says it was written by someone else, despite the fact that his name appears) and a post on his Facebook page in which he criticized form the “rentist” party.

In the appeal, José Díaz argues that it was about “presenting personal opinions on the actions of the aforementioned persons”, noting that freedom of speech is “enshrined in the constitution”, and considers that according to this decision the idea that “the crime of opinion prevails in Chega” .

Considering that “a decision cannot be based on conduct that it does not properly describe and, above all, that it does not prove or even justify by some disciplinary offense in an almost Kafkaesque process”, he mentioned that “not it is proven that the accuser practiced any violation of the disciplinary regulations or the charter, so this process is based on a huge house of cards, which is enough to be removed first for it to collapse.

The text also claims that “the application of the punishment of expulsion is disproportionate, unfair” and “violates the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic”.

The objection argues that the Ethics Commission, the body that proposed his exclusion and ceased to exist following the latest party statutes of the TK, “its existence, distribution of functions and mode of operation” and “is more like a censorship commission of the Estado Novo times.”

Speaking to Lusa, the former vice president (a position he held for two years before being replaced by the leader) said he was not heard by the National Council of Jurisdiction and that it was “impossible for him to implement a contradiction.” “Telephone notification is not accepted, they should have sent me a notification by registered mail or by e-mail, setting a time and day so that I could be heard,” he said.

“My expulsion was due to the fact that I wrote several articles that disagreed with the way Andre Ventura is leading the party,” he said, accusing President Chega of “being in control” and of wanting to “perpetuate himself with power in Chega, so he does not allow internal opposition.

“He is a dictator, so says the Constitutional Court, that there should be more democracy within the party,” Jose Diaz also criticized, referring to the “guidance” of the party’s charter by the Ratton Palace judges.