MP imposed secrecy of justice on protesters arrested in Porto

O Public prosecutor (MP) imposed a secret of justice on the six people arrested in Porto, early on October 25, for protesting for the right to housing, today revealed one of the defendants' lawyers.

“The prosecutor imposed a secret of justice,” said Margarida Leitão Ferreira to journalists at the entrance to the Small Local Judgment Criminality in Porto where the detainees will be heard by the MP to pronounce on the provisional suspension of proceedings.

And he added: “They intend to give a kind of importance to this process that will make it impossible for data to be disclosed about it.”.

The causist said that detainees, mostly student workers or first employment, are indicted for a crime of disobedience.

The six detainees, who arrived at the courthouse at 10:30 p.m., will be heard today by the MP to pronounce on the provisional suspension of proceedings that, if they refuse, will proceed to trial.

The provisional suspension of proceedings is an alternative to the trial, i.e., instead of the prosecution, the prosecution is suspended for a certain period while the defendant complies with certain obligations or rules of conduct.

The six protesters were arrested in the early hours of October 25, after police intervention in the Porto Camp, in square D. João I.

On 26 October, the detainees were identified in the Local Court of Small Crime in Porto, and the trial was scheduled for 13 November.

However, despite the appointment of that date, the detainees will be heard today for a possible provisional suspension of proceedings.

At the time, and outside the courthouse, the protestors' lawyer, Ricardo Salazar, said that if there is a provisional suspension of proceedings, it is not because people are guilty, but because there are people who need to have a clean record in order to have access to a profession.

“ But, I ask you: which one of you, knowing that you are making a fair fight, choose the easiest way out and tacitly take the blame to protect yourself in exchange for not having a trial and a conviction?”, asked Ricardo Salazar.

The housing camps, a movement that began in Porto on October 10, mark on Tuesday a month, during which they managed to force a public debate on the crisis in the country with social and political consequences.