The Government of the Republic, through the Ministry of Justice, suspended the payment of compensation to the families of the two recruits who died in the 127th Command Course, one of them was the 20-year-old Madeiran Hugo Abreu, born in Ribeira Brava.
The exhibition was advanced this Sunday, by Jornal de Notícias, in the print edition, and explains that in the last quarter of 2019 the negotiation was held. To the families’ dismay, the State’s intention is to only resume negotiations after the end of the trial, which started more than a year ago and can go on for longer. The Ministry of Justice, consulted by the JN, replied that if there is an agreement, it will consider whether “the transaction should be authorized or not (…) in the light of the public interest”.
The lawyer for the victims’ families, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, reacted critically and even considered the State’s attitude “regrettable”, because “in other situations we know of this nature – such as [os fogos de] Pedrógão – the State has always advanced, regardless of criminal responsibility, as it understands that, even if there is no criminal responsibility, there is a system that generally fails to function ”.
In total, advances the JN, the global amount required for the two families amounts to 740 thousand and forced, a few months after the beginning of the investigation, the appointment of a legal representative of the State, since, if this did not happen, the Ministry Public would be both accuser and defendant.
539 crimes
The 19 servicemen, most of whom are instructors in the Commandos, are accused of 539 crimes in all, mainly of abuse of authority for offending their physical integrity. In all, about a hundred witnesses were listed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with a portion to be questioned for more than a day.
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