The PS said this Saturday that it was focused on making “perfectly clear to everyone” the protection of animal welfare, showing openness to legislative changes and remembering that his constitutional reform project consecrates this right.
In statements to the Lusa agency, the vice president of the parliamentary bench of the PS Pedro Delgado Alves reacted to the request of the Public Ministry for a declaration of unconstitutionality, “with general mandatory force”, of a rule of law that criminalizes the mistreatment of animals .
The PS deputy warned that the issue of animal welfare has today “social consensus and adherence much higher than 10 or 15 years agoand, in this context, a possible declaration of unconstitutionality would cause “a certain perplexity on the part of the population.”
Faced with this scenario, Pedro Delgado Alves guaranteed that the PS is “focused” on “finding a solution that safeguards and allows maintaining, in a perfectly clear way for everyone, this additional form of protection of animal welfare.”
In this sense, Pedro Delgado Alves said that the PS constitutional reform project seeks “precisely to leave no doubt that the Constitution expressly enshrines and welcomes animal welfare.”
There are doubts, there are different interpretations if this is the case, but, to avoid doubts, it seems to us that it is preferable -and, in fact, there are other parties that also did the same- that the Constitution expressly provides for the issue”, he stressed.
On the other hand, the PS is also open to “continue improving” the 2014 law that defines the mistreatment of companion animals as a crime, pointing out that there are those who point out that the legislation “is not determined enough, it is not sufficiently clear”.
“It seems to us that (…) there are some improvements in the determinability of some concepts –either the concept of ‘animal’, or the concept of ‘abuse’, for example- in which it is also possible that the Assembly of the Republic does some work”, he said.
Pedro Delgado Alves recalled that there is a PAN bill – which was passed to the specialist on Friday without a general vote – on the subject, committing to “see the proposals presentedand, if there is “some point of understanding that allows these difficulties to be overcome”, showing openness to discuss them.
It is a path that we have on the table and that it is also possible to explore. But, as I say, it may not be enough: it may even solve some doubts, it may not solve all of them. For this reason, we focus on the issue of constitutionality since it must also be reviewed, ”he stressed.
The PAN diploma in question suggests reforms to the Criminal Code to extend the criminalization of mistreatment to other animals that are not companion animals and increase the penalties provided for the crimes of abandonment or mistreatment.
The Public Ministry (MP) of the Constitutional Court requested this Wednesday the declaration of unconstitutionality of the norm that defines with a fine or imprisonment anyone who, without legitimate reason, kills or mistreats pets, according to a press release released this Wednesday. Fair by the Attorney General of the Republic.
According to the note, the unconstitutionality appeal arises after three decisions of the TC in this regard.
Article 387 of the Penal Code classifies as a crime of mistreatment of companion animals the conduct of anyone who, without legitimate reason, inflicts pain, suffering or any other physical mistreatment on a companion animal (such as dogs and cats), offense punishable by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 120 days.
The information on this initiative of the Public Ministry of the Constitutional Court was provided by Expresso ‘online’, which said that the plenary session of judges of the Constitutional Court will decide the future of the animal protection law, created eight years ago and which has three decisions as its objective declared unconstitutional by the TC.
According to Expresso, the TC had already declared the law unconstitutional in serious cases, such as that of the dog Pantufa who died in agony after being subjected to a cold-blooded caesarean section. The owner, who threw the dogs still alive in the trash, was first convicted, but later acquitted, and in another case where a dog was mistreated by the owner for six years.
Following this request from the deputy, the organization Intervenção e Resgate Animal (IRA) promotes this Saturday, in Lisbon, a demonstration in defense of the criminalization of animal abuse.
Source: Observadora
