Parliamentary leader Ferro Rodrigues has taken action after being labelled a pedophile in a video clip uploaded onto YouTube.
The clip has since been removed “for violating YouTube’s policy on harassment and bullying”.
Mr Rodrigues’ reaction was that it attacked his honour – which in Portugal (and a number of other countries worldwide) is still considered a crime.
The clip was uploaded by maverick suspended magistrate Rui Fonseca e Castro – something of a ‘hero’ in ‘pandemic negationist’ circles, but definitely a man who has put his mission above his career.
Suspended by the Superior Council of Magistrature (CSM) from sitting as a judge for the last four months (click here), this latest incident is likely to prolong this situation, if not lead to even greater forms of censure.
Mr Rodrigues has said in a statement that he has contacted the CSM ‘for all due effects’ – highlighting the “gravity of the declarations contained in the video that beyond anything else constitute a public crime”.
Beyond calling Mr Rodrigues a pedophile, Rui Fonseca e Castro also suggested that the parliamentary leader “should kill himself”.
As the clip has now been removed, we cannot give the context behind these remarks – but Mr Fonseca e Castro’s clips are invariably encouraging people ‘not to do’ whatever it is the authorities are imposing in the name of the pandemic.
Contacting the CSM yesterday, Expresso reports that a spokesperson said the “new facts” forwarded by Ferro Rodrigues “suggest disciplinary material on the basis that a disciplinary process is underway”.
Either that or they could be reason to open a ‘new process’.
Whatever happens, it seems highly unlikely that Rui Fonseca e Castro will be returning to the bench anytime soon.
