The 13 sailors who refused to board the NRP Mondego ship in March, citing security reasons, will know on Thursday, at 10:00 am, the charges arising from the Navy disciplinary proceedings, confirmed one of the defence lawyers.
Speaking to Lusa, Paulo Graça, one of the lawyers of the 13 military personnel, indicated that their clients have told to present themselves at the Legal Directorate of the Navy, this Thursday at 10:00 am to hear the case against them.
Paulo Graça said that the defence does not have, for now, expectations as to the outcome of the disciplinary process, since he does not have “any kind of knowledge” of the steps that the Navy has taken to deduce the outcome.
“We’re looking forward to what’s to come. Of course, once our clients are formally notified of the charges against them, we will then be in a position to respond.
Even so, when asked about the Navy’s knee-jerk approach, Paulo Graça said he still maintains his original opinion.
“From the moment that the Admiral Chief of Staff of the Navy [Henrique Gouveia e Melo] made the statements, he unequivocally gave a signal to the entire Navy regarding his opinion of the case. To be honest the only thing I expect the Navy to do is do everything in their power to confirm the Admiral’s opinion.
When asked about the criminal investigation of the Military Judicial Police, opened in March on orders of the Navy, Paulo affirmed that he had not heard any more news since the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to suspend the hearing of the 13 military personnel on the 20th of March.
“We don’t have any news, we don’t know where it is, or if it’s been archived … We know absolutely nothing,” he said.
Paulo Graça explained that this inquiry is intended to “enable the Public Prosecutor’s Office to deduce whether the 13 defendants should face criminal charges or not. Especially, as my clients have not been notified of the proceedings. ”
“It could theoretically happen that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will reject the Navy’s charges and simply file the complaint. But we don’t know if this is happening or if it will happen… I’m just giving a theoretical possibility,” he said.
The lawyer added that the 13 sailors are still on active duty.
On the 11th of March, half of the NRP Mondego crew refused to go to sea to observe a Russian ship sailing to the north of Porto Santo due to security reasons; they believed that the ship was unseaworthy.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: JM
