"To us, freedom of speech is clear: people have the right, within the terms of the law, to say the nonsense they want, as was the case with the statements we heard yesterday [Friday] in parliament, and the President of the Assembly of the Republic does well in not becoming a censor of these issues", said today, in Miragaia, in Porto, the leader of the liberal list for the European elections of June 9.

João Cotrim Figueiredo was thus reacting to the controversy on Friday, in which the President of the Assembly of the Republic defended that it is not up to him to censor the positions or opinions of deputies, referring to the Public Prosecutor's Office for any possible criminal liability of the parliamentary speech.

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco rejected that he had made a mistake in allowing the leader of Chega, André Ventura, to continue his speech, after he had said that "the Turks are not exactly known for being the most hard-working people in the world".

The liberal candidate asked for coherence in the debate on freedom of speech, considering that the issue raised with the controversy "was put in terms in which it should not have been put", defending that the coherence of the IL regarding freedom of speech "has been total, unlike what happened yesterday [Friday]".

"In the morning, we had parties saying that if the President of the Republic could not say things, and others saying that the President of the Republic had every right, and then in the afternoon some saying that a certain party did not have the right to say something, and that party saying that it had that right", he observed.

Asked about whether or not André Ventura's statements could constitute a crime, João Cotrim Figueiredo said that he is not a lawyer and does not know "what is the interpretation of the courts regarding what constitutes incitement to violence", but defended that these thoughts be known.

"If we do not let these ideas be expressed, they continue to exist, they are just not expressed. And I ask: what is the best way to fight them? Being expressed and fighting them, or letting them be latent and then we wake up too late?", he asked.

Regarding the proliferation of similar speeches by European politicians in recent years, the liberal candidate for the European Parliament considers that "every time an episode like this happens in which one of the sides is extreme in its position, it gives rise to this type of controversy that only gives more prominence to the opinion that was issued".

"Which leads me to conclude that it is probably in the interest of these forces themselves to exaggerate the rhetoric and the level of controversy that they give to their statements. We have to face this with the normality of those who think they are right", said João Cotrim Figueiredo, also saying that this is what the IL does.

For Cotrim Figueiredo, it is "very hard to hear certain things, some of which are clearly offensive and others that are eminently ridiculous".

"But we think it is better that they are aired, that they are expressed, and that we can fight them. That, yes, is the true democratic spirit", he considered.

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