The leader of the far-right Chega party, André Ventura, considered this Friday that the manifesto in defense of a "civic shock" that would end the "worrying inertia" of political agents regarding the reform of Justice, which was signed by a group of 50 personalities from different quadrants, represents "the full perversity of the political system" which, in his view, is "a shame for the Portuguese people".

"I think the response we should give is to the authors of this manifesto and not to Justice. We already knew, and Chega warned about this, that when Operation Influencer was launched, Justice would be under attack like never before, probably since the Casa Pia de Lisboa case. And these manifestos are proof that we were right. They are all there: Ferro Rodrigues, Rui Rio and the heralds who have always defended the political control of the Public Ministry, of the institutions of Justice", the official began by saying, in statements to the press, from the Assembly of the Republic.

For Ventura, the document "is nothing more than a request from the central political system saying 'control Justice, because this is causing us problems'", since "it calls for a new control regime in searches and wiretaps, not for any technical reason, not for any constitutional issue, but for a reason that affected politicians and there were governments that fell", he pointed out, referring to Operation Influencer and the consequent fall of António Costa's Executive.

"This is the wrong way to do politics. They will not count on us. Doing politics by attacking Justice based on specific cases, involving politicians, who are us, who will be legislating in our own case, will be a shame for the Portuguese people. Those who are out there will see nothing but politicians legislating for their own benefit", he added.

And he concluded: "We need a form of Justice and a reflection on Justice, but the reform we want to make is not to cut powers from the Judiciary Police or the Public Ministry. The reform must be made in the prison system, in the penalty system, in the resource system. […] This is the full perversity of the political system."

It should be noted that the document defended that "a reform is necessary that, although not disregarding the legitimate aspirations of Justice agents, is not designed to suit the corporate interests of the various operators of the system, but that has the citizen and the defense of the democratic State of Law as the central axis of its concerns", in order to combat the "obvious wear and tear on the regime" and the "popular discontent", which "opens the doors to populism and demagogy".

"The montages of the now habitual media spectacle, in the interventions of the Public Ministry against political agents, along with the surgical placement of news about ongoing investigations, have intentionally confused the tree with the forest, formatting public opinion to the idea that all holders of public office are the same and that all are corrupt until proven otherwise", he said.

The petition is signed by, among others, the former presidents of parliament Augusto Santos Silva, Ferro Rodrigues and Mota Amaral, the former leaders of the PSD and the CDS, Rui Rio and Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, the former ministers Leonor Beleza, David Justino, Fernando Negrão, António Vitorino, José Vieira da Silva, António Barreto, Correia de Campos, Alberto Costa, Pinto Ribeiro, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, and the former president of the Constitutional Court, João Caupers.

Admiral Melo Gomes and General Pinto Ramalho, former governor of the Bank of Portugal Vitor Constâncio and judge-counselor Teresa Pizarro Beleza, as well as Isabel Soares, Manuel Sobrinho Simões, Álvaro Beleza and the social democrats Paulo Mota Pinto, André Coelho Lima and Pacheco Pereira also signed the text.

Read Also: Ministry of Justice reacts to the manifesto with "concern" and criticizes the PS (Portuguese version)