Sócrates trial yet to begin 10 years later as ex-PM insists he is innocent
Portugal Resident
Judges accuse Sócrates of “manifestly abusively and ostentatiously” trying to delay going on trial, while ex-PM has penned an article saying he is the victim of “political persecution”
This Thursday marks 10 years since former Portuguese prime minister José Socrates was arrested at Lisbon Airport after arriving from Paris. A decade on from that day, the trial of Operação Marquês has yet to begin.
Yesterday, Sócrates has had yet another appeal to the Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) rejected, in a judgement in which the panel of judges accused the former prime minister of trying to “manifestly abusively and ostentatiously delay” going on trial.
The judges of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected José Sócrates’ new appeal, with the panel criticising in the ruling what they described as “a manifestly dilatory act”, stressing that “it is not legally admissible to submit successive appeals”, adding that this “has been the procedural behaviour” of José Sócrates.
“(Sócrates) is manifestly abusively and ostentatiously delaying the passing of the indictment and, consequently, his submission to trial. The courts cannot accept the adoption of such procedural behaviour,” reads the TRL ruling.
The panel emphasises that “there is a procedural moment when the right to disagree with judicial decisions is no longer admissible” and that beyond that moment “disagreement ceases to constitute the exercise of defence rights and becomes an illegitimate exercise of that right“.
“This procedural behaviour does not derive from ignorance or misinterpretation of the rules of criminal procedure, but constitutes wilful and ‘contra legem’ (against the law) behaviour and is aimed solely at artificially delaying the final and unappealable decision,” the judges further argue, citing previous TRL rulings to argue that “it is not procedurally admissible to transform a judicial case, with a final decision, into an endless merry-go-round of applications/decisions/appeals in which, successively, at every level of judicial decision, successive issues are raised, circularly, without any real foundation (…) until, finally, the statute of limitations has expired and the case is dismissed as it is time-barred”.
The court insists that the former prime minister’s behaviour “is not justifiable” and stresses that “the law imposes on the defendant the duty to litigate in a fair and equitable manner”, and that he must “accept that the decisions handed down by the courts are binding”.
On 21 November, 2014, Sócrates was arrested on suspicion of corruption, in a case dubbed Operation Marquês.
The investigation lasted until almost the end of 2017, and after successive postponements to conclude the inquiry, the public prosecutor finally brought charges on October 11, accusing José Sócrates of passive corruption of a political office holder, money laundering, falsifying documents and qualified tax fraud.
The indictment targeted 28 defendants, for a total of 189 offences, and the defendants include the former prime minister’s friend, Carlos Santos Silva, the former head of BES bank, Ricardo Salgado, the former chairman of telecoms operator PT, Zeinal Bava, the former minister and former director of state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos bank, Armando Vara, among others.
Even before the indictment was handed down, José Sócrates’ legal challenge to the case began, as he tried to remove the then investigating judge, Carlos Alexandre, from the case. Numerous appeals, claims, requests and procedural incidents followed.
Sócrates reaffirms political prosecution claim
In an opinion piece published today in Diário de Notícias, José Sócrates reaffirmed his belief that the case was aimed at preventing him from running for president of Portugal and stopping the Socialist Party (PS), which he then led, from winning the 2015 elections.
“The Marquês case was never a judicial case, but a political set-up – to prevent my candidacy for President of the Republic and to prevent the Socialist Party from winning the 2015 legislative elections,” he writes. “The only difference with the recent Influencer Case is that, 10 years ago, they didn’t forget to choose the judge. What a difference choosing the judge makes.”
At the moment, Sócrates argues, there is no charge sheet in the case – since this was struck down in 2021 – nor a verdict – one was struck down in 2024 – but “the persecution continues” in what he described as a campaign against him.
“The lawfare operation follows the procedures to the letter: they manipulated the choice of judge, fabricated false and absurd accusations, missed all deadlines and violated the secrecy of justice, in order to feed journalism and make it their main ally,” he writes. “Lawfare is like that: it’s not about gaining a better seat at the negotiating table – it’s a war of extermination. In Portugal, it’s been going on for 10 years.”
In the article, Sócrates once again alleges that the Portuguese state has carried out a smear campaign “against an innocent citizen” – emphasising that there are various ways of telling the story and one of them is lying.
Sócrates recalls that, 10 years on, the story of the trial is also one of “the dizzying and continuous change in the accusation” and also “the violence of arbitrariness” in the way he is treated.
“Ten years of imprisonment in public opinion,” the text continues. “Ten years in which the Portuguese criminal justice system behaved like the dictatorship, arresting and defaming an innocent man, while choosing the investigating judge who best served the Public Prosecution Service.“
In the article, he also targeted Portuguese media.
“Journalism publicised it, journalism justified it, journalism whitewashed it – delaying manoeuvres are those of lawyers, there are no delaying manoeuvres by the state,” he says of the way the media has presented the situation. “The postponement of investigation deadlines, the postponement of pre-trial deadlines, the failure of the state to meet any kind of deadline is seen by journalists as a search for the ‘material truth’ or as a response to the so-called ‘difficulty of proving’ or even as a way of overcoming the usual ‘lack of resources’.”
Source: LUSA
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