Bruno Silva was arrested at his home this Tuesday morning by inspectors from the National Counterterrorism Unit. The Portuguese-Brazilian citizen, detained on 21 October, is “strongly suspected of having shared on social media a post inciting violence against a group of foreign nationals,” according to the Judicial Police (PJ).
In September, Silva had posted neo-Nazi content on X (formerly Twitter), expressing support for extremist ideology. In another post, he allegedly offered “a flat in central Lisbon to anyone who carried out a massacre targeting certain foreign citizens, along with an additional €100,000 bonus for anyone who attempted to kill a Brazilian journalist working in Portugal.”
The journalist in question is Stefani Costa, who had reportedly received images months earlier showing Bruno Silva holding firearms. She filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the case is now being handled by the Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP) in Lisbon.
In its statement, the PJ noted that “the publication went viral, causing widespread alarm and social unrest, seriously undermining the sense of public peace, safety, and tranquillity, and provoking outrage and condemnation across various sectors of society.”
Silva has previous criminal convictions for crimes of discrimination and for inciting hatred and violence. Authorities have seized “a substantial amount of evidence relating to his ideological radicalism.”
He is scheduled to appear before a magistrate on Wednesday, 22 October, where punitive measures will be determined.
