Braga lawyers will perpetuate the memory of opposition to the Estado Novo

The announcement of the launch of a screen printing and the announcement of the placement of a piece evocative of the action of lawyers from the district of Braga, in front of the Judicial Court of Braga, marked Wednesday night, at the Legal Association, a ceremony where evoked the memory of what it was like to live in the Estado Novo, on the part of those who constituted “the backbone” in the opposition to the Dictatorship.

In a room full of representatives from across the district, Maria Manuela Marques, on behalf of the working group set up for this evocation by the District’s Committee for Homage to Democrats, announced her intention to raise funds with the sale of a Screen Printing (by 150 euros), written by lawyer Artur Marques, entitled “Da Noite se faz Luz” to create a piece that “perpetuates everyone who resisted and faced Salazar’s regime”.

In his speech, Paulo Sousa, on behalf of the Commission, began by announcing that May 2nd – the date scheduled for the end of work – will be marked by a tribute to the honorary president of the Commission, José Sampaio, also a lawyer, and to Jorge Miranda, two people from Braga, two personalities who personify the two-year work: “Memory and Freedom”, the first as a resister and opponent of the Estado Novo, the second as a builder of Freedom.

Saluting the women and men who wore the shirt for Freedom and Democracy, the Commission coordinator classified them “as the backbone of the Democratic Movement that never gave up, resisted and won”. They embody, he said, each and every one, the conviction that, as Salgado Zenha said, “on a moral level, which is what matters, only those who give up fighting are defeated”.

Ensure the independence of the judiciary

For his part, Macedo Varela, one of the leaders of the opposition to the Estado Novo, intervened to defend that it is important to “ensure the independence of the judiciary”, which means “the fight for Freedom and Democracy”.

Recognizing that he “was lucky” to have never been arrested, that lawyer from Famalicão, however, recalled the day he was dismissed from the bench, by decision of the Council of Ministers. “He was 25 years old,” he recalls. “The system imposed and disposed of people’s freedom as if it owned them”, explained the lawyer who recalled the day Pide gutted his office. In his intervention he mentioned the names of other lawyers from Famalicão such as Armando Bacelar, José Azevedo, Joaquim Loureiro or Margarida Malvar, who was present at the ceremony.