The Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, this Tuesday in Coimbra, relativized the data from a European study on the perception of corruption in Justice, stating that they refer to 2021, which was “an exceptional year”.
“It was an absolutely exceptional situation,” Catarina Sarmento e Castro told the Portuguese agency at the end of a visit to the headquarters and regional delegation of the Center of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), adding that the report “It happens in relation to a year ago, which was a very particular year in which there were exceptional occurrences” involving the magistrates.
“Naturally, these exceptional events could not fail to mark the perception that, from the point of view of common sense, people in general have. Y judges are also people like us, who live in society“, stressed the Minister of Justice.
According to the survey of the European Network of Councils of Justice, which collected the responses of 15,821 judges from 27 countries, 26% of the 494 Portuguese judicial magistrates surveyed said they believed that, during the last three years, there were judges who accepted, individually, bribes or engage in other forms of corruption.
In this respect, Portugal was only behind Italy (36%) and Croatia (30%), equaling the share of Lithuania (26%).
Last week, the Association of Judges of Portugal (ASJP), through its president, Manuel Soares, expressed concern about study data on independence of the magistrates and demanded a response from the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) due to the perception of corruption in the Justice.
Reacting to the position of the ASJP, the CSM then rejected a “hasty reading” of the results of the investigation, assuring that it will be vigilant and act against possible acts of corruption.
Source: Observadora
