Portugal among the countries that did not equate the violation to the status of a public crime

About 40 Council of Europe countries have ratified the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women to make the violation a public crime, thus eliminating the need for a complaint from the victim. with an investigation. Of the participants in the agreement, three did not comply: Portugal, Italy and San Marino, a microstate located in northern Italy.

The three countries decided to keep the violation semi-public, contrary to the agreement reached at the convention. According to the newspaper Publicthe majority of deputies believe that the crime should retain its semi-public origin, despite some divisions in the Socialist Party (PS) group, which presented a draft that, without changing the nature of the crime, allows victims to file a complaint within a year after the commission of the crime, instead of the current six months .

Helena Leitao, coordinator of the international relations department of the Center for Judicial Studies, in statements to Público, criticizes the PS proposal, stating that it does not change the position of the victim, because if you are not able to file a complaint within six months, it will not be a year later.

PS MP Claudia Santos disagreed with the argument put forward by Helena Leitao, saying that an increase in complaints could lead to an increase in acquittals, since the decision of the case will always depend on the evidence obtained, which will depend on the victim. . In an interview with this newspaper, the representative believes that the opposition’s proposals infringe “the rights of the victims, arguing that the state knows what is best for them.” In the SDP, Monica Quintela agrees with the PS representative, arguing that the violation should be semi-public in order to “not force the victim to undergo a criminal process that she does not want.”