Not first time ‘freedom of speech’ has been prosecuted in this country
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Portugal to pay more than €18,000 to a Portuguese citizen for violating his right to freedom of expression (by confusing it with ‘defamation’ which is still considered a crime in this country.)
According to the decision released today, the ECHR ruled that the Portuguese courts violated Victor Veiga Cardoso’s freedom to say what he felt by penalising a comment made about the prosecutor responsible for his daughter’s parental regulation case.
Victor Veiga Cardoso said at a meeting with social workers who were monitoring his daughter’s supervised visit that the prosecutor allegedly consumed too much alcohol, thus jeopardising his work and what he (Victor Veiga Cargdoso) considered to be the child’s best interests: the right to be with her father.
The comment was passed on by the social workers to the public prosecutor, who took exception to it and sued Cardoso for aggravated defamation.
The courts ruled in the prosecutor’s favour, ordering Cardoso to pay €1,600.
However, the ECHR considered the penalty “disproportionate” and his comments “a form of venting”. They also criticised the social workers who reported them.
“It is not unreasonable to consider that the applicant expected some discretion and reserve on the part of the professionals. According to the manual of good practice of the specialised unit that works with the family courts, such meetings imply an atmosphere of trust so that parents feel free to express their thoughts openly,” said the ECHR’s decision, which goes against the Portuguese court’s understanding.
In analysing the confrontation between the right to protection of the prosecutor’s reputation and Victor Veiga Cardoso’s right to freedom of expression, the Strasbourg-based court noted that “the applicant’s criminal conviction cannot be considered proportionate in the light of the legitimate aim pursued and is therefore not necessary in a democratic society”.
The ECHR ruled that Portugal must pay a total of €18,696.15 in compensation to Victor Veiga Cardoso within three months, broken down into €1,600 in compensation that Victor Veiga Cardoso had been sentenced to in a national court (pecuniary damage) and €17,096.15 in costs and expenses.
This is not the first time that comments/ criticism, even when made to third parties, have ended up as defamation prosecutions, which can, in worst case scenarios, carry prison terms.
Source material: LUSA
