The ombudsman admitted that the constitutional review “comes at the right time to solve some issues that need to be clarified”, in the case of metadata and measures in a state of emergency, although she understands that the review is “not necessary”.
In an interview with the Lusa bureau, Maria Lúcia Amaral emphasized that the constitution is “stable”, which is why, as a lawyer, she argues that “a constitutional revision was not necessary”, although she acknowledges that this process could be useful “to solve some problems unload”.
“It’s good to be clear. We’ve been through a pandemic, there I was the echo of many of those doubts and had a clearly defined policy. There were many doubts whether the measures taken outside the state of emergency had sufficient support. ” in the Constitution or not. . It was good that this was resolved.”
While taking the view that “a constitutional revision was not necessary”, the Ombudsman accepts that this revision can make progress and serve to clarify “situations where highly relevant public interests are at stake”.
“As a jurist, I think that a constitutional revision was not necessary, but if the majority of jurists understand that a constitutional revision is necessary, then let the question be clarified,” he said.
In his words, this review should also serve to clarify the issue of metadata. The metadata controversy arises after the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional rules requiring telephone and internet service providers to retain data related to customer communications – including origin, destination, date and time, equipment type and location – for a period of one year. eventual use in criminal investigations.
Maria Lúcia Amaral noted that if there is a constitutional revision, it should be an “enlightening”, “peaceful” one that “anticipates future problems”.
“If there is great doubt within the Portuguese community about the lack of constitutional clarity on this, then it is good that there is clarity about it,” he concluded.
In May 2021, the Ombudsman argued that Portugal needs a new law to regulate emergencies such as those created by the pandemic, without the time limits imposed by the constitutional state of emergency.
He pointed out at the time that the systematic extension of the state of emergency gives an expiry date to political decisions that jeopardize citizens’ compliance and confidence in the measures in question.
There are prisons with overcrowding problems
The ombudsman also assured that the prison system is being monitored “very closely” through the National Prevention Mechanism (MNP), acknowledging that there are still prisons with serious problems of overcrowding.
In an interview with the Lusa office, Maria Lúcia Amaral emphasized the importance and the work carried out since 2014 by the MNP, an independent entity entrusted to the Ombudsman, “which makes unannounced visits to detention centers with the aim of avoiding situations of torture , ill-treatment or other abuse”, inspection of “the conditions of persons deprived of their liberty”.
The action of the MNP extends to prisons, educational centers for the detention of young people and centers for the temporary settlement of foreigners, as well as detention cells in police stations or courts and hospital wards with psychiatric internment.
“The supervision of the Portuguese prison system has taken on another density and another dimension due to this new reality, namely the existence of a National Preventive Mechanism whose overriding mandate is to monitor very closely everything that happens in places where there are people. deprived of liberty and the prime example is prison,” he said.
Maria Lúcia Amaral recalled that in all prisons, detainees have the phone number of the Ombudsman’s office at hand, which explains why they “continue to receive complaints from detainees”.
“There are many calling here to make complaints,” he said.
The Ombudsman acknowledged that Portugal has been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as “the problem is that there is a huge diversity of conditions between prisons”.
According to him, there is “overcrowding in absolute terms” in Portuguese prisons, but he warned that the problem persists in some larger prisons.
“The prison in Porto, which has serious problems with overcrowding, like in Lisbon,” he noted.
According to the most recent data from the Directorate-General for Relocation and Prison Services, there were 12,618 detainees in 49 prisons.
Source: DN
