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Weekly update by John Clare
The Law of the
Jungle
We leave the first decade of
the twenty-first century with Portugal
proving to the world that she is still living in the middle ages.
And it doesn't help that I am huddled in the car in the middle of a car
park at eight o'clock on a seriously cold morning. My feet are frozen,
and my hands are trembling. It's supposed to be warm down here in the
south. I could be home in front of nice warm log fire, but I have taken
my next door neighbour to the fleamarket so she can try and earn a few
euros for her Christmas spending.
A couple of days ago we had one of our regular earthquakes. They happen
all the time here; usually such light quakes that non-one notices.
However, this one measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, which is a
substantial quake.
My neighbours were all woken at about half past one in the morning to
feel their beds sliding about. I woke up, but I simply thought my
German neighbour had gone mad. There was the sound of his cement mixer
droning on. What the dickens is he doing, building in the middle of the
night? Either he is seriously behind with his work or he has gone a bit
potty.
It was only the following morning that I realised that what I had heard
was the noise of the quake, not the cement mixer.
But..... back to the plot.
Some years ago (April 2003) the Portugal News ran a small story about a
lady who had had a spot of bother. She had taken a lease on a house, as
her new home was not yet ready. Her landlady subsequently terminated
the lease, illegally as far as I can tell, and to get the tenants out
she then took them to court. As she didn't turn up at court she should
have lost her case, and there was the evidence of the lease, which
showed the tenants had every right to be in the property. However, the
judge telephoned the landlady on her mobile phone (do let me know
sometime how he had her number), and took her evidence there and then.
He refused to tell the hapless tenant what had been said, and gave
possession of the house to the landlady, and fined the tenant.
Naturally the tenant appealed, and was given a further fine of €1,500
for having the nerve to appeal. I think the phrase used was "insulting
the court".
Well, that was a few years back, but we've got another one. This time a
lady was arguing with someone else, and the matter went to court. A
lawyer was retained. However, eventually the parties came to an
agreement, and the court, and of course the lawyer, was informed that
the matter was settled.
The lawyer admits he knew the case was settled, but simply ignored the
fact and carried on regardless. The lady naturally objected, and
complained to the relevant body.
Okay, that's bad enough, but this is where it gets interesting.
The lawyer now sued the lady for criminal libel. Apparently he admits
he knew the case was settled, but says that she should not have
complained about his behaviour. He informed the police, who visited her
to take a statement, and has instituted libel proceedings in the courts
with a damages claim of €50,000 attached.
How can this be? Apparently there are two laws in Portugal, one for the
powerful classes, and one for the common man. If you are a policeman, a
lawyer, or a politician, and I criticise you, I can be put in prison.
If anyone criticises me, no such penalty accrues. That is quite clearly
in breach of the Human Rights protocols that the Portuguese government
signed up to as part of the their commitments under EU membership. It
is obviously against the spirit of the fundamental terms of the
European Union's legal structure to have two classes of person in the
state, each subject to different laws.
One wonders quite what the Portuguese revolution achieved all those
years ago. Sure, it got rid of one dictator, but failed to do the job
properly by not getting rid of the rest of the dictators. And they it
seems are protected by law.
The part that particularly worries me is that Portugal has been
sponging off the British and German taxpayers for nearly thirty years.
I dread to think how much of our money has been funneled into the
place. Part of that money was to be used to bring the country out of
the dark ages and into the modern world. Unfortunately, that has, in
certain areas, not happened. There would appear to be a severe
restriction on freedom of expression in Portugal, contrary to Section
12 of the Human Rights protocols which Portugal has signed up to, and
which Portugal is mandated to obey as part of the agreements under
which they receive so much funding from the rest of Europe.
Another example of how there is one law for special classes, and one
law for the rest of us was given us much earlier in the year when the
ex-policeman named Amaral was found guilty, together with his cronies,
of beating up a woman prisoner. Now, if you or I had beaten up someone
we would be shunted off to prison pretty fast. But Amaral was a police
officer. He was protected. He got let off with a warning.
This is the kind of behaviour one would expect of a jungle state; but
not in what is supposed to be a civilized western political union. What
message does the Portuguese government think this sends to foreigners?
Honest folk are not going to invest in such a place.
It is all rather sad. The UK government should be leaning on the
government in Lisbon to clean up its act. Unfortunately, governments
stick together, and these days it appears that things are very
different from how they were years ago. It seems that it is now the
people versus the government, whichever government it happens to be.
Not a particularly auspicious end to the first decade of the new
century.
Best wishes. See you next year.
John Clare
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