European court orders Portugal to pay 10 thousand euros to economist Pedro Arroja – Portugal

• Photo: Rights Reserved

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered the Portuguese State to pay 10,000 euros to Pedro Arroja for violating freedom of expression, in the process in which the economist was convicted of defaming MEP Paulo Rangel.

The decision of the ECtHR, released this Tuesday, orders the reopening of the process and completely reverses the ruling of the Porto Court of Appeal (TRP) which, in March 2019, aggravated the penalty applied by the Court of Matosinhos (first instance) to Arroja, also condemning him to pay 10,000 euros to Rangel, for defamation.

At issue were comments that Pedro Arroja made on May 25, 2015 at Porto Canal regarding legal work on the construction of the future pediatric wing of the Hospital de São João, in Porto, which led the court of first instance to condemn him , on June 12, 2018, for offenses against the law firm to which Paulo Rangel was linked (a fine of 4,000 euros and compensation of 5,000 euros), but to exempt him from the imputation of aggravated defamation against the MEP himself.