Personalities call for “quick transposition” of directive that protects freedom of expression – Current Affairs

According to the 21 subscribers of the document, which include Ana Gomes, Teresa Violante, Henrique Neto, Paulo Morais, João Paulo Batalha, Susana Peralta, among others, “50 years after the Carnation Revolution, and even though administrative and State censorship is formally extinguished, new forms of limiting freedom of expression have come to condition free and informed public debate”.

In this regard, he warns that “one of the main ones is judicial litigation against activists, journalists, academics and citizens, by powerful people targeted by criticism and denunciation”.

The authors of the letter state that “criminal complaints for defamation or civil proceedings to repair honor and good name, which are associated with heavy claims for compensation and high court costs, have become a common practice of harassment against those seeking, through of public participation mechanisms, fairer, more egalitarian and informed societies”.

In his opinion, these “forms of retaliation against public participation, on the part of those who have resources, aim, through the inconvenience, constraints and costs that legal proceedings entail, to frighten and limit those who, freely, dare to point out pointing fingers at irregularities, transgressions or lack of ethics. They are, above all, a tool of social and economic censorship that uses public means (the courts and other judicial structures) in its favor to silence dissenting voices”.

The signatories of the document addressed to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, as well as the President of the Assembly of the Republic and all parliamentary groups, emphasize that “Portugal suffers particularly from this abuse, thanks to legislation and a judicial culture that are too permissive to this retaliatory litigation.”

The authors of the letter recall that, since accession to the European Charter of Human Rights, in 1978, there have been more than 30 convictions at the European Court of Human Rights for violating the freedom of expression of its citizens.

To “keep free the voice of those who, with a civic spirit, participate in public debate”, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament approved this month the anti-SLAPP/Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation directive, on the protection of people involved in public participation against manifestly unfounded requests or abusive legal processes.

Therefore, they ask the Portuguese parliament and government to “proceed as quickly as possible with the transposition of the said directive, promoting in Portugal a broad respect, based on the law, for the freedom of expression enshrined constitutionally, but so often threatened in the courts”, the which would be a sign that “Portugal truly values ​​the values ​​of April”.

Francisco Teixeira da Mota, Eduardo Cintra Torres, Mário Frota, Margarida Mano, Luís de Sousa, Susana Coroado are some of the other subscribers.