Lawyers for ‘Mondego mutineers’ seek compensation
Presidential frontrunner, Henrique Gouveia e Melo, has had an unwelcome curved ball thrown into his sphere, even before he has official declared his intention to stand in the elections for a new President of the Portuguese Republic in January.
The Supreme Administrative Court (STA) has rejected an appeal by the Navy (which Gouveia e Melo used to head) essentially declaring the “unlawfulness of sanctions applied to the military personnel of NRP Mondego after they staged a high-profile ‘mutiny’ when commanded to ‘accompany a Russian vessel’ sailing through Portuguese waters.
This drama was ‘huge’ when it happened: Gouveia e Melo gave the mutineers a blistering dressing down in public, disregarding all the reasons they gave in mitigation – and then ensured that they were placed on suspension, effectively staining their careers in the Navy.
The STA’s decision, published on the court’s official website, is final. There can be no more appeals by the Navy for a different reading of how it behaved. In a nutshell, the sailors’ case has been upheld: they were unfairly treated for being asked to accompany a Russian vessel in a dangerously unfit patrol boat (which not long afterwards broke down on the high seas, and had to be towed back to port).
When this incident first hit the headlines, satirists had a field day with the bottom-line message (that Portugal’s Navy was not fit for purpose), suggesting the Russian ship may have transmitted the message back to Moscow that perhaps it should ‘forget Ukraine: we have found a country you could invade in a weekend…”
Since then, of course, the Navy has benefited from a number of improvements (all under Gouveia e Melo’s watch, before he retired at the end of last year).
But the bad feeling that the incident has left means that lawyers acting for 11 of the 13 sailors who refused to set sail on that fateful day in March of 2023 are now planning to sue both the Navy and Gouveia e Melo for the ‘moral damages’ of their treatment.
Talking to the press, lawyer António Garcia Pereira who represents the men said it was time for “accountability of the hierarchy”. ND
Source: LUSA
