The recent news item 'Faro GNR to prosecute woman for Facebook complaint' naturally has provoked some spirited 'readers comments' so David Thomas from Safe Communities Algarve contacted the man in charge to find out the GNR's point of view.
He writes:
"Safe Communities Algarve have raised this case with the GNR at a senior level which has explained that the only reason why the woman is being prosecuted, is for "defamation" by making a false accusation of corruption, which is a serious crime.
Under Portuguese law making such false accusations against a person or an organisation is illegal.
Clearly her language is the issue here.
They added that the fact that she is complaining on Facebook is NOT the reason she is being prosecuted nor does it matter that she took
photos of the GNR car. If she had complained but had not made the corruption allegation, I have been assured no action would have been
taken.
The GNR receive negative comments and complaints from people on their Facebook page and these are not removed. But there are limits beyond which if you make unproven serious accusations in public then the person concerned will have to bear the consequences.
Unfortunately it is often the case in Facebook that people write without thinking through the consequences, or in the heat of the moment, which may well have been the case here."
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Further readers comments are welcome.
For the original story click this link
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/5977-faro-gnr-to-prosecute-woman-for-complaining-on-facebook
