Sócrates’ bid to remove presiding judge backfires
The opening days of the corruption trial of former PS Socialist prime minister José Sócrates have been peppered with tensions that came to the boil yesterday when judges not only refused Sócrates’ bid to get rid of the presiding judge (and the Attorney General), but fined him over €1000 for essentially wasting the court’s time.
Mr Sócrates has been lodging appeals since the outset of this case, which began over a decade ago. Up until now, he has been successful in delaying proceedings. But these have now well and truly begun – and attempts to head them off, by applying for an initial ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, have also failed to head-off progress.
Friday saw Lisbon’s Court of Appeal reject Mr Sócrates’ manoeuverings. They found his basis for the removal of Judge Susana Seca (and recusal of Attorney General Amadeu Guerra) “manifestly unfounded”, and declared the request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union for alleged violation of Community law, “prejudiced”.
Lusa explains that Mr Sócrates’ defence had been trying to paint Judge Seca as biased, and accuse the Attorney General of “interfering in the proceedings”.
There were other complaints, too, about the make-up of a working group. These were also rejected, for appearing to have no legitimate basis.
Thus, 11 years since José Sócrates was arrested at Lisbon airport, to spend months in preventive custody in Évora Jail, a full week of trial has been managed – with dozens more sessions scheduled until the end of the year, and further sessions due to be scheduled into 2026.
During this trial, around 650 witnesses all told will be called: 225 by the public prosecutor’s office, and around 20 by the defence of each of the 21 defendants.
José Sócrates is facing three offences of corruption, 13 of money laundering and six of fraud. These have been whittled down over the years, but, certainly in Mr Sócrates’ opinion, they are an ‘infamy’ being visited upon him by ‘a corrupt system’. Back in 2016, he suggested the case with a ‘political plot’ designed to stop him from running for the Presidency of the Republic. ND
