The court rejected the lawsuit against Mariana Mortagua

This Friday, the Central Criminal Court (TCIC) decided to close the case against Mariana Mortagua, in which the BE deputy was accused of violating the regime of exclusivity by making political comments in SIC-Notícias.

“It has been decided to dismiss the petitions submitted by the assistants as completely unfounded and, therefore: not to convict the defendant of the crime of embezzlement (…) and of the crime of unlawful receipt of benefits”, reads the decision instructions signed by Judge Gabriela Assunção, to which Lusa and Senado magazine had access to.

The BE statement said that “for the second time, the court decided that the complaint filed against Mariana Mortagua is unfounded”, given that it is confirmed that “the plaintiffs and their lawyers (the Chega candidate and convicted of fraud four more times) failed to bind justice with political persecution”.

“For Mariana Mortagua, or any other leader of the Left Bloc, these attempts at retaliation serve as an encouragement to condemn, as we will continue to do, the networks and businesses of the Russian oligarchy and the far right,” he says.

According to the reasoning of the justice of the peace of TICK, the candidate for the leadership of the blockade was not required to know about the change in the understanding of the Commission on Transparency and the Status of Deputies on this issue in February 2020, since she was not, at that time, commenting on television.

“It is quite probable, as the prosecutor’s office concludes, that he was not aware of the change in understanding of the Transparency Commission and the Statute of Deputies – and there is no indication that he knew – and it is noteworthy that, having learned, from the very beginning, having made public his abnormal position, she tried to immediately refund the amounts received,” he said, adding that there were no signs of malicious intent in the behavior of Mariana Mortagua.

For the investigating judge, the fact that the plaintiffs imputed embezzlement and wrongful receipt of benefits “is manifestly contradictory”, given that Mariana Mortagua could not have misappropriated sums and at the same time ask for or accept an inheritance of benefits through this situation.

“In addition, and confirming that this behavior of yours is actually taking on trifling outlines and that it does not provoke the intervention of the penitentiary system, it is noted that the defendant will always be released from punishment,” he concluded, also noting the end of the measure of restraint and residence of the deputy.

In a mock debate held on Monday, the lawyer for the blocking MP, Carmo Afonso, defended the waiver of sentencing and the subsequent filing of an application – just like the Ministry of Public Administration – while the plaintiffs’ representatives demanded that Mariana Mortagua answer in court. for crimes related to theft and unlawful receipt of benefits.

The case of Mariana Mortagua, who is a candidate to replace Katarina Martins as Bloc coordinator, was exposed in March 2022 by Sábado magazine.

At the origins is a change in the Assembly of the Republic’s understanding of the exclusivity of deputies, which began to distinguish between a reward for a written commentary in relation to a television commentary: the former allowed accumulation, since it was subject to copyright, and the latter was made incompatible with the exclusivity subsidy.