This Tuesday, parliament approved the closed-door hearing of the Minister of National Defense, Helena Carreiras, and the Chief of Army Staff (CEME) on alleged violent practices against a female recruit in facilities of this department, reported by the Diário de News.
The request, prepared by the Liberal Initiative (IL), was approved by the National Defense parliamentary committee with votes for PS, PSD and IL and Chega abstained, BE and PCP were not present at the time of the vote.
Initially the request was of an urgent nature, but during the debate it was argued, namely by the chairman of the committee, the socialist Marcos Perestrello, after the intervention of the deputies that with an urgent investigation process and other disciplinary processes taking place in the army, it would not make sense that the hearing took place before more details about this case were known.
Marcos Perestrello suggested that instead of the request, the committee should vote on a request to send delegates “the conclusions of the investigative processes and the disciplinary process, with protection of the personal data involved” and, only after analyzing these processes, the committee would assess whether the minister and CEME should be heard.
IL agreed to remove the urgency criterion from its application and agreed to the request for data on the trials, but did not waive these hearings, even though they took place “later in the process”.
Patrícia Gilvaz (IL) warned that “it may be obvious” to hear these entities “within half a year”, if the investigation takes some time, but agreed that the hearing will take place when more ” complete and sufficient facts” about the matter in question.
Ahead of the vote and these changes to the IL’s application, the Liberal deputy defended the importance of the trusteeship “explaining the developments directly” and stressed that the defense ministry’s statement issued last week that it is being implemented an urgent investigative process “is an indicator that there are doubts” about the events.
Socialist Diogo Leão, who proposed a few moments before the chairman of the commission to make this hearing no longer urgent, said he followed the matter “with concern”, which he classified as “sensitive” and “serious” and stressed that it Ministry of Defense “promptly responded” to the news that became public.
Diogo Leão believed that the army chief of staff, General Nunes da Fonseca, should be heard first, and only then the minister, “to respect the military hierarchy and then the politics”.
For the PSD, deputy Jorge Paulo Oliveira suggested that the hearing be held behind closed doors as it is a sensitive issue, arguing that “the concerns expressed by the minister” are “more than enough reason for this hearing to take place “.
Deputy Pedro Pessanha (Chega) downplayed the possible debate on this matter in committee, as internal processes are taking place and the matter is “handled in its own headquarters”.
After criticism from the Liberal deputy, Pedro Pessanha clarified that he was not against hearing entities on the subject, but felt it was premature to hear them before internal processes were completed.
On January 6, the government announced that the army has opened a “new urgent investigation process” into the alleged violent practices against a recruit in Abrantes, which will be accompanied by the defense minister.
In a statement, it was said that Minister Helena Carreiras received “with great concern” the news of “alleged violent practices in training activities for army soldiers in the Emergency Military Support Regiment”, which was raised by Diário de Notícias on the same day.
These practices, the text reads, were “apparently much more serious than those contained in the process of investigations and disciplinary processes already underway by the military in that military unit.”
The DN reported last Friday that a recruit of the Emergency Military Support Regiment (RAME), based in Abrantes, had been targeted with violent practices, as part of “a practice they refer to in the jargon ‘Oriented Training for the Development of Attitudes’. to mention.” ‘”.
The recruit in question reported to the newspaper an “intense physical exertion that required the RAME, which led to exhaustion and anxiety, and ended up in the hospital with a tachycardia crisis,” the DN writes among other episodes.
Source: DN
