European Court orders Portuguese State to pay 10 thousand euros to Pedro Arroja

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

The ECtHR’s decision, released this Tuesday, orders the reopening of the case 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 thousand 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.

After appeals from the parties, the TRP decided that the defendant should also be convicted of aggravated defamation of Paulo Rangel, with a fine of 5,000 euros.

In a legal culmination, the TRP set the economist’s penalty at a global fine of 7,000 euros, maintaining the compensation of 5,000 euros to the law firm, adding another 10,000 euros to Paulo Rangel.

“The ECtHR ordered the reopening of the case, as provided for in the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure. Therefore, MEP Paulo Rangel and the law firm of which he was director will have to return everything they received illegally. The State will have to return everything he received in costs and fines and erase the respective convictions from the criminal record”, Pedro Arroja’s lawyer explained to Lusa.

Jorge Alves also criticizes the Portuguese courts.

“It is strange that national courts continue to grossly violate the European Convention on Human Rights, causing moral and material damage to societies and people and nothing happens to the respective judges. In fact, they are still promoted”, accused the lawyer.

On the Porto Canal program on May 25, 2015, Pedro Arroja accused Paulo Rangel and the law firm, where he worked at the time, of contributing to the stoppage of Joãozinho’s work, financed by patronage.

The then commentator spoke of “promiscuity between politics and business”, highlighting that Paulo Rangel was a “complete example” of this because he is a politician and headed a law firm.

“As politicians, they are certainly attracting clients for their law firm – clients mainly from the State, Hospital São João, municipal councils, ministries of this and ministries of that. When they produce a legal document, the question that arises is whether that document is a professional document or, on the contrary, is it a political document to compensate for the hand that feeds you”, he asked, on that occasion.