Posted on 11/25/2004 6:32:14 AM PST by Ginifer
LISBON (AFP) - Seven suspects, including a popular TV star and a retired diplomat, arrived at a Portuguese court at the start of a high profile trial over the sexual abuse of minors at state-run children's homes.
The hearing, in Lisbon's Boa Hora tribunal, is the first major paedophile case of its kind in Portugal and got underway amid tight security.
As the suspects entered the court, a horde of journalists and onlookers crowded in, while an association acting in defence of children handed out leaflets calling for justice.
The public will be able to sit in on the first session but following hearings will be held behind closed doors. In another first in Portugal, a media centre has been set up for the trial.
The highly-publicized case has dominated headlines since it broke in September 2002 when whistleblowers triggered an investigation into allegations of decades of sexual abuse at Lisbon-based Casa Pia, the nation's best-known network of homes for troubled children.
Among those who will stand trial are Jorge Ritto, a former Portuguese ambassador to South Africa; Carlos Cruz, a television presenter whose career spans over three decades; and a former director of Casa Pia, Manuel Abrantes.
The seven, including one woman, face charges ranging from child sexual abuse to procurement and rape involving 32 victims.
An eighth person was also standing trial on weapons charges.
"I am a peaceful citizen," said Cruz, once the country's highest paid television personality and who faces five charges of abusing minors and homosexual acts with an adolescent, as he arrived at the court.
The case has shattered public trust in the authorities, especially after reports surfaced that children had complained about the sexual abuse for years, including to a former Portuguese president, and yet no action was taken.
Social workers at Casa Pia, which looks after some 4,000 children in 10 institutions, have said that more than 100 children currently show signs of having been sexually molested, including many deaf-mutes.
The scandal has also put the spotlight on the fragilities of Portugal's legal system, especially the widespread -- and some argue abusive -- use of preventive detention of suspects and police wire-taps.
I can conduct that trial for about $.11, if I reload used brass.
Filthy homo-scum. They should all be hanging in a public square.
GRRRR! Millstone. Neck. Body of Water.
Really? Well, .38s may be cheap, but I prefer those "watermelon exploding" .30-06 168gr Hornady moly-coated boat-tail hollowpoints.
Makes for a more exciting "trial" even if it does cost a couple of bucks more.
Pedophiles always remind me of that line from Steppenwolf's "The Pusher": "I'd cut 'im he stand and I'd shoot 'im if he run."
With used brass I can load 165-grain Remington Core-loks for my M1 for about .11 to .13 cents. I hear good things about Hornady, though. Shoot or maybe some of those Barnes X-bullets, nasty solid brass shredders!
Get the rope.
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