The deputies of the Foreign Affairs commission approved this Tuesday the proposals of the Liberal Initiative and the PAN for the parliament to protest against the Russian embassy’s criticism of the singer Pedro Abrunhosa, the president of the parliamentary commission told Lusa.
The vote in the plenary session must, however, consider a legislative initiative that bases the proposals of the two parties, said the socialist deputy Sérgio Sousa Pinto, who chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Communities.
“Now they are going to be merged by the advisers in the resolution part, so that similar proposals are not voted on in plenary session,” he said.
The Liberal Initiative (IL) parliamentary group proposes that the Assembly of the Republic express “its most vehement protest against the statement from the embassy of the Russian Federation on July 20 about a concert by Pedro Abrunhosa, considering that it is” an attack unacceptable to freedom of expression”.
In the draft vote, IL describes the statement released by the Russian embassy as “intimidating”, referring to the fact that the Russian representation said that “no ignoble provocation” against Russian citizens “will remain unanswered”, after Pedro Abrunhosa condemned the war in Ukraine during a concert in Águeda.
“Portuguese citizens will always have the right to hold political protests as they see fit, whether on domestic or foreign policy, without fear of reprisals, intimidation or veiled threats,” he said.
The PAN project also calls the Russian embassy’s statement “intimidating” and adds that “serious statements” have been made.
The singer’s peaceful protest is described as “shameful screaming”, and the Russian embassy says Pedro Abrunhosa’s words “were heard” and were “undignified”.
During a concert in Águeda, on July 2, available in its entirety on the YouTube platform, Pedro Abrunhosa spoke about the war in Ukraine, before beginning to sing the song “Perhaps Foder”, in which he addresses issues such as war, hunger and fascism. .
“We cannot and will not forget that Europe is at war. And the stupidest war of all, a perfectly avoidable war, a war of hate, a war that families like ours have to run from every day,” he said at the time.
At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs repudiated the “tone and content” of the statement in question and defended freedom of expression as “inalienable.”
“The rejection of the tone and content of the embassy’s statement about the concert by musician Pedro Abrunhosa was transmitted to the embassy of the Russian Federation, through diplomatic channels,” an official source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Lusa.
Source: Observadora
