NRP Mondego. Military lawyer says it is possible to prove they were right

The 13 soldiers subject to disciplinary proceedings, after refusing to carry out a mission alleging lack of security on the Mondego vessel, are already in Lisbon, on their way to the Navy personnel department.

A Renaissancelawyer Paulo Praça admits that the military was right in their decision and guarantees that it is possible to prove it.

“AND. Thus, there is impartiality and impartiality so that the issue is analyzed in all its aspects. So, have the courage to call things by their names, so have the courage to apply the law and the right, especially as it has to be applied in a situation like this”, says Paulo Praça.

Confronted with the result of the expert report on the ship, which concluded precisely the opposite of what the military complained about, the lawyer says that he heard that “the Navy commissioned an expert report, taking into account all the speeches that have been given so far” .

“What I conclude is that the Navy is acting in a partial way, so the expert report that the Navy itself commissioned will have to be analyzed, to verify if it is, in fact, credible”, he shoots.

For this reason, Paulo Praça does not rule out the possibility of the military asking for an independent expert report.

“Eventually, we are here talking about evidence that is requested by an interested party. It’s good that people don’t forget that, ”she points out.

In these statements to RenaissancePaulo Graça, says he does not know the near future of these soldiers, but admits that his visit to the Navy installations could be the decision to remove them.

“I admit that they can be removed and I admit that they cannot be. I don’t know. This could be what is being prepared, but we don’t know yet”, says the lawyer, referring that what is known, so far, is that the military “will move to the direction of Navy personnel, as soon as they reach Lisbon”.

The NRP (Ship of the Portuguese Republic) Mondego did not carry out a mission on Saturday night to accompany a Russian ship north of the island of Porto Santo, in Madeira, because 13 of the garrison’s soldiers (four sergeants and nine soldiers) refused to board for security reasons.

The head of the Navy, Gouveia e Melo, in statements on Thursday in the port of Funchal, criticized the soldiers on the Mondego ship who disobeyed orders, saying that the case is of “very serious gravity”.

“The Navy cannot forget, ignore, or forgive acts of indiscipline, whether the soldiers are tired, unmotivated or worried about their own realities”, he stressed, directly questioning the rebelling soldiers: “What interests did you defend? Those of the Navy certainly weren’t, yours much less. Only united will we overcome difficulties and you have disunited us.”