António Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal, and Fernando Gomes, a former mayor of Oporto, today dropped in on José Sócrates, detained in Évora jail.
Gueterres told reporters, "I found him very well."
This brief comment was in stark contrast to the barrage of sharply worded letters that the former prime minister José Sócrates has been sending to national newspapers, many blaming the press for his current predicament.
José Sócrates denies that his home computer had been wiped clean to remove incriminating evidence the day before he was arrested at Lisbon airport. He also denies that he had a flight to Brazil booked for the day after he was unexpectedly sent to Évora nick.
A legal move to have him allowed home under house arrest has failed but another is planned while the discomfort of his detention hits home.
Whiling away the hours by sending letters to editors seems not to have calmed Sócrates' mood as he now is blaming cowardly politicians, the press and the legal profession for his detention.
Still, he now has a TV to watch, donated by one visitor and his letters are exiting the premises with the endless stream of ‘friends,’ many of whom claim that Sócrates is of course as innocent as a new born baby, is a stand up sort of guy and his detention is quite inappropriate under the circumstances.
Further news that no doubt will further enrage the jailed politician is that he and his friend Carlos Santos Silva, both currently jailed pending charges and probable trial, financed part of António Costa’s campaign to become the new Socialist party’s general secretary.
According to the online site of Visão, the former Prime Minister and his friend made donations totaling €12,000 towards the campaign costs of the now general secretary of the Socialist Party, through a PayPal account.
Visão stated today that the ‘prosecutor is trying to determine the origin of these and other cash movements of the two defendants."
Perhaps more interesting is the cash payment of €3 million made in the purchase of the apartment in Paris where Sócrates moved to when he left Portugal.
Comments
That also must apply to the others held in the same facility
34 PSP Agents
6 GNR Agents
4 Prison Guards
1 Judicial Police Inspector & a Coast Guard
Off course there all innocent ,that why there in Preventive Detention
Sure. But how is it that an individual with no business experience, heck no business, having worked principally as a government employee ends up with millions?
Or how about his degrees? The ones he constantly
mischaracterized ?
And to rely on the "law" we must also realize that the law is not working with not enough judges to do the proper work. So, justice delayed is justice denied.
I am also so tired of people blaiming the press for doing their job.
And if you do not think that a corrupt prime minister is interesting or an important subject, then that itself speaks volumes as to why the country is facing this crisis.
How many British have been warned - by that oxymoron, an honest Portuguese lawyer - to forget about going after X.
"He's a local boy. By the time it gets to court he will have 4 witnesses - all unknown to you as they were not there. At least one an English speaker who overheard, you call the person you are accusing ' A brown rascal'.
Your only witness, your wife's testimony is meaningless. Discounted as 'she would say that wouldn't she'. All the invented witnesses are well briefed on your claim beforehand - through 'judicial leakage' - so it is dismantled in court.
Having dismissed your claim - the judge then hears this imaginary claim for defamation and cannot fail to decide against you.
And fine you a lot of euros as no Portuguese likes being called a 'brown rascal' even when we are.
And you will still then have to pay me ! So lets get on with preparing the papers to the court ...
This is one of the most creepy sayings constantly trotted out by Portuguese who have never been involved in one their very sinister legal processes.
The point is there are some very 'bent' officers and workers in the Portuguese legal system. Who can and do - by prior arrangement - entirely distort the outcomes.
Just like in the bad old days - not so very long ago.
Witness the attempt by the Justice Secretary a couple of years ago to questionnaire ANONYMOUSLY all workers in the Portuguese legal system - from judges downwards - about whether they had witnessed and / or participated in bent trials and judgements.
None of the unions representing their workers allowed any of their members to take part. As planned therefore the result ... nothing ! Quietly dropped.
How can you begin to approach an understanding of guilt or innocence with such a warped attitude to your job that should be about investigating in societies interests who is 'bad' and so punishing them .... and who is not ?
And why be so scared at being seen as 'honest' ?
But why is every activity of Portugal's justice system and law and order somehow 'distorted' ?
Every aspect -from 'secret searches' for missing people regardless to their potential threat to themselves - as in old people or infants - or to society as in serious criminals to this nonsense of 'judicial secrecy'.
Bundle in the nonsense of being innocent until proved guilty. Everything just a bit warped ... from its accustomed meaning.
Only making sense if you then re-evaluate the 1974 Portuguese Revolution (as many Portuguese are themselves doing) and realise that it was substantially invented. And ultimately has not changed things for 'ordinary' Portuguese.
An 'ordinary' arguido cannot make any kind of public statement. Anything they say must be to the investigators or their legal advisor’s. So why is Socrates firing off these letters ??
Anything that might interfere with an investigation is a penal crime ... yet, for a biggy there is obviously nothing to stop them screwing up their own prosecution !!
Socrates fraudulently, (some might say deludeldly), laid claim to be competent enough to hold the position of the highest office in the land whilst he was seeking election for Prime Minister. For that he is guilty of fraud and artifice.
Once elected he was guilty of gross incompetence and ineptitude, the scale of which is taking years to repair.
These facts are proven and relevant to the life of most Portuguese citizens.
I'd suggest that this alone is enough for him to be incarcerated and that it's worth reading about in the press.
If the alternative front pages of Xfactor results, which celebrity has recently tattooed their arse, or what clothes Obama's daughter's are wearing, are more interesting, then I'm obviously missing something!
He's innocent until otherwise proven; that's the law!
There must be good reasons for him to be in the situation he seems to have created for himself.
The press - like always - is only looking for food to sell their newspapers and throws out suggestions. And S. is now using the press for his own purpose.
I look forward to reading some juridical evidence and that will take time.
Until then I hope to read about more interesting subjects; there's much more going on in Portugal and the world.