Five more detainees released without interrogation due to bailiffs’ strike – Portugal

The detainees in question are suspected of drug trafficking and domestic violence crimes, according to the SFJ.

On Wednesday, the union had already announced that the strike by judicial officials had led to the release of 12 detainees involved in cases of homicide, domestic violence and drug trafficking.

On that day, the SFJ accused the Minister of Justice of holding the unions responsible for failing to meet deadlines for presenting detainees for interrogation, which result from the “pure incompetence” of the Justice services.

“The 25th of April holiday was sandwiched between two strikes without minimum services and detainees who finish the 48-hour period between these three days [quarta, quinta e sexta-feira] expire before the Saturday morning shift at the Central Criminal Instruction Court” [também conhecido como Ticão]a union source told Lusa.

In a clarification sent that day to the media about minimum services not having been decreed, the Ministry of Justice (MJ) held the union responsible for not having indicated in the strike notice, for the strike that began on December 20, 2023 and which ends on Friday, April 26th, and which ran on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

The MJ added that in the absence of this indication, the Directorate-General for the Administration of Justice (DGAJ) asked the arbitration court to decree minimum services, which it decided not to do, with the DGAJ appealing to the Lisbon Court of Appeal, “in a process of an urgent nature, having been filed on December 29, 2023” and which is still awaiting a decision.

However, to Lusa, the president of the SFJ, António Marçal, said that the absence of minimum services on the days around April 25th resulted from the “pure incompetence” of the DGAJ, which “did not well substantiate the request” for minimum services made to the arbitration college.

Marçal recalled that, in previous situations, in which strikes were scheduled for periods that covered, for example, municipal holidays, the DGAJ took this into account, requesting that minimum services be decreed for services in the territorial area covered by the municipal holiday, which was granted.

“The specific situation [do feriado do 25 de Abril] was not raised by the DGAJ. By wanting to attribute responsibilities to the union, the minister is going down a bad path”, criticized Marçal, who added that there was no contact on the part of the supervisory authority with the union in an “attempt to coordinate the situation”.