In an extraordinary outburst only days after his doctors advised “absolute rest”, former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio has criticised the plan for a paedophile register accessible to parents of all children under the age of 16.
Speaking out at the ongoing judges’ association congress in Tróia, Sampaio claimed it represented a return to the era of public executions and “justice by stoning”.
The former President of the Republic criticised Justice Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz for allowing what he called “yet another lurch in security”, away from “the protection of people’s dignity”.
Already under fire for spectacularly disastrous consequences of court reorganisation, Teixeira da Cruz batted off the attack, saying that if the register did indeed constitute such a retrograde step, it was what was happening “in various western European countries that have the same system”.
The plan – to allow parents information on known-paedophiles living in their area – was announced last month, but has yet to be officially presented by the Justice Ministry.
Its intention is to cut down on the number of high-profile repeat offences that have been playing out across the country.
Parents will be able to solicit information, as long as they guarantee to keep this information to themselves.
The force of Jorge Sampaio’s opinions also focused on the role of the press, and the way stories “of a criminal nature” are publicised often before they face the courts.
Sampaio declared that anyone who violated Portugal’s strict “secret of justice” laws should be sent to prison.
The former head of state was in the news last weekend, following an indisposition which saw him cancelling most of the week’s appointments, on doctors’ orders.
