He was passed over in the competition and in a message to the mayor he said that the members of the jury were incompetent to judge him. He was accused by the MP and not pronounced by a judge of the Almodôvar Court. Court of Appeal considers that calling an employee “incompetent” is not a crime.
An architect who applied for a public tender procedure as a Senior Technician for the Municipality of Castro Verde, after finding out that he had been passed over in that contest, sent an email message to an employee of the municipality, where, Among other things, accused the members of the jury of "incompetent".
in the message, the individual who applied for the position through a Mobility Contest promoted in 2020, since he held the position in an autarchy close to Castro Verde, justified the mayor’s pity for “having such incompetents to head your divisions”. I never liked incompetents and it's a sad country to have incompetents in leadership positions”, referring to the heads of three divisions, Works and Urban Management, Environment and Green Spaces and Administration and Finance.
The municipality led by former journalist António José Brito, did not like the adjective used against its workers and filed a complaint with the Public Ministry (MP) of Almodovar, who accused the architect of the practice of 3 aggravated defamation crimes.
Unfulfilled, the defendant requested the opening of a statement, after which a judge of the Court of Almodôvar issued the order of non-pronouncement, in other words, did not bring the architect to trial, ordering the filing of the records. The MP did not agree and appealed to the Court of Appeal of Évora (THREE) justifying that, contrary to what was defended by the magistrate, “the national legal order cannot impose or treat differently the whistleblowers”., just for being employees”.
The dissatisfied defendant replied that “numerous times they were called incompetent, Judge Ivo Rosa during the partial indictment of Socrates, the same happened with Judge Carlos Alexandre and Prosecutor Rosário Teixeira and the MP did not initiate any criminal proceedings for such facts”, held.
In a decision taken a few days ago, the judges of the TRE decided “to dismiss the appeal and maintain the contested decision in full”, justifying that “it does not practice the crime of defamation, the candidate in public tender, who called the evaluation shameful and incompetent”, because for the magistrates “such expressions do not violate the honor and consideration of those concerned, rather, it is a critique of the work developed by those targeted”, justifying that it was an acquittal judgment, for confirming the decision of the 1st instance.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
