Former commander of the Vila Nova de Milfontes Territorial Detachment of GNR, Captain Filipe Moutas, was convicted by a Singular Court, in the Portimão Local Criminal Court.
At issue is the practice of a crime that offends physical integrity in the person of a journalist, a camera operator from the SIC television channel. The defendant was also ordered to compensate the victim.
The official, currently placed in the Faro Territorial Command, He was sentenced to a term of 50 fine days, at the daily rate of 8 euros, in total 400 euros. If you do not voluntarily or coercively pay the fine imposed, the defendant will have to comply 32 days in jail. He was also ordered to compensate the victim for payment of 300 euros, plus interest, from reading the sentence to the effective settlement of the compensatory amount.
To avoid trial, the defendant filed a defense, invoking the nullity of the investigation and denying the practice of the facts. However, after the trial is held, the court formed the conviction that the officer was guilty of the crime he was accused of, taking into account that “the version presented by you, due to the weaknesses shown, it has not proved adequate to even generate doubts about the reality of the facts ”, justified the judge in reading the sentence.
On 5 August 2018, in the course of a large fire that broke out in Monchique, Captain Filipe Moutas pushed the victim in the back and punched him in the left cheek, causing you to be unable to work for eight days ”, according to the investigation of the case by the DIAP of Portimão.
The investigation began with a report prepared by the official, who at the time commanded the Territorial Detachment of Odemira from GNR, against the journalist for “disobedience, aggression with the camera and for injuries and that when he tried to handcuff him, this reacted with form and the handcuffs fell off ”. After inquiring the different actors in the process, was the same filed, no certificate was extracted to investigate the existence of false statements in the preparation of the report by Captain Filipe Moutas.
The decision of the Local Criminal Court of Portimão is subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Évora.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
