The interrogation of the former president of Funchal City Council, Pedro Calado, began today at 10:30, according to a judicial source.
Upon arrival at the Central Criminal Instruction Court (TCIC), at the Justice Campus, in Lisbon, Paulo Sá e Cunha said that the interrogation of his client would “finally” begin, after 14 days of detention, predicting that it would end during the day today or Wednesday morning.
Referring to Monday, the lawyer said that the defense abandoned work at around 9:00 pm because it was carrying out normal procedures.
“We were incorporating documents into the records, numbering documents, reviewing minutes. The criminal process is very formal, and it is also an important guarantee for the following phases [of the process]”, said Sá e Cunha.
Paulo Sá e Cunha hopes that the coercive measures will be known by the end of the week, remembering that Carnival and holidays will take place next week.
As for Pedro Calado, the lawyer said that he has “very optimistic expectations for the first interrogation” and that he will explain the facts for which he is indicted.
“First he will explain the facts. Then, knowing whether these facts correspond to a crime is one thing and knowing whether the crimes that are here are correct is another thing. He will explain the facts, crimes are for lawyers. I hope it is resolved quickly,” she stressed.
Paulo Sá e Cunha also hopes that, because the detention of the suspects in this case “is long”, already 14 days, “no one will feel obliged to apply measures depriving their liberty”.
“The system, this inorganic unit, sometimes has to justify itself and, therefore, despite it being a very painful situation for someone to be deprived of their freedom, until now, the defenses have been working in the interests of their constituents”, explained.
For the lawyer it is “an expensive price to be deprived of freedom for all these days, but it has as a counterpart the effectiveness of the work of the defenses”.
“It’s not wasted time, I would rather they were free to wait for the proceedings and I see no reason why they wouldn’t be”, stressed Sá e Cunha.