Former prosecutor Orlando Figueira will report to Évora prison to begin serving his sentence of six years and eight months, the former magistrate’s defense said this Tuesday, after the court issued a warrant.
“Dr. Orlando Figueira will present himself at the Évora Prison”, lawyer Carla Marinho, who represents the former Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), told Lusa.
Lusa also questioned the representative about when exactly Orlando Figueira would be admitted to prison, but so far it has not been possible to obtain further clarification. According to a prison source, as of 10pm today the former magistrate had not yet appeared in Évora.
Today, in the early afternoon, the lawyer said she was unaware of the issuance of the warrant and expressed her intention to contest the decision, announcing “a request to raise pending issues awaiting decision, such as an appeal that is pending on the application of the Law of Pardon of Sentences, upon the arrival of Pope Francis to Portugal, and an incident of nullity due to violation of the principle of natural justice, among others”.
“Everyone has been waiting for a response for months”, said Carla Marinho, clarifying that the appeal is pending at the Lisbon Court of Appeal and that the nullity incident is in the first instance.
According to judicial sources told Lusa, the sentence enforcement order requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) was validated by judge Sofia Claudino, from the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon. One of the sources also assured that the pending appeal “does not have suspensive effects”, meaning it does not stop the order to serve the sentence.
The information that the former magistrate of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) was on the verge of going to jail was advanced on Monday night by the Observador, which described the various appeals and other procedural incidents raised by the defense of Orlando Figueira who prevented for years the sentence of six years and eight months in prison from becoming final.
However, Orlando Figueira ended up going to the Évora Prison Establishment (which houses inmates who worked in security forces or people who need special protection) last February, having been released three days later as an appeal was still pending in the Court. Constitutional.
Orlando Figueira was sentenced, in December 2018, by the Criminal Court of Lisbon, to an effective prison sentence of six years and eight months for corruption, money laundering, breach of court secrecy and document forgery, having been proven who received more than 760 thousand euros from the former vice-president of Angola, Manuel Vicente, in exchange for favors in the processes that targeted the then Angolan ruler in the DCIAP.
The Portuguese MP’s accusation against Manuel Vicente for active corruption, money laundering and document forgery was separated from the Operation Fizz files and sent to the Angolan judicial authorities, where, years later, the case is still in an embryonic phase.
