Attacks on Gouveia e Melo. Trial begins

The trial of ten defendants accused of insults and attempted assaults on Henrique Gouveia e Melo and Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues begins this Monday, at 9:15 am, at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon.

The case now comes to trial, after the Central Examination Court of Lisbon decided, in December 2024, that there was sufficient evidence to try ten of the 12 defendants named by the Public Prosecutor's Office for the crimes of attempted aggravated assault, aggravated insult, aggravated threat and qualified damage in the completed form.

According to the indictment, the incidents in question were those that took place during the pandemic - one of them in August 2021, when denialist protesters shouted “murderer” and “genocidal” at Gouveia e Melo, then coordinator of the Covid-19 vaccination plan task force, next to the vaccination center in Odivelas, and the other took place a month later, next to parliament, when they called Ferro Rodrigues a “pedophile” and “disgusting” as he walked with his wife to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The Public Prosecutor's Office named twelve defendants, but some requested that an investigation be opened and Judge Sofia Marinho Pires decided not to indict two of the defendants, who were accused of attempted assault on the physical integrity of the then Admiral Gouveia e Melo.