Abstract
A banalização da utilização da pena de morte no quadro da guerra é um dos expoentes máximos da violência política por parte do Estado contra os mais frágeis. Nesta comunicação pretende-se proceder à análisedas circunstâncias em que foi reintroduzida a pena de morte no nosso país, no quadro da participação de Portugal na I Guerra Mundial. Analisar-se-á, igualmente, o julgamento do soldado João Almeida, o alvo desta condenação. Nessa análise, equacionar-se-á, se foram cumpridos os requisitos mínimos de uma justiça substantiva, se foram concedidas garantias de defesa ao acusado, ou se apenas se tentou recriar a coreografia elementar de um tribunal para uma sentença previamente delineada, anunciada e proferida. Esta condenação à morte, a única ocorrida no Portugal abolicionista, pode configurar um crime em que o Estado é autor. Os dados disponíveis indiciam podermos estar perante uma deliberação consciente de uma pena de morte a quem não tinha cometido o crime pelo qual vinha acusado, a deserção, sendo que o caso em análise pode não se integrar propriamente na galeria dos erros judiciais ainda que grosseiros, integrando antes a categoria do crime sopesadamente praticado para servir de paradigma punitivo a quem efetivamente quisesse desertar.
The trivialization of the use of death penalty in the context of war is one of greatest exponents of political violence by the Government against the weakest. In this communication we intend to carry out an analysis of the circumstances in which the death penalty was reintroduced in our country, during Portugal’s participation in First World War. We will also analyse, the soldier Joao Almeida’s trial, the target of this condemnation. In this analysis, we will consider, if the minimum requirements of a substantive justice were complied, if the guarantees of defence to the accused were granted, or if what happened was just a recreation of a basic choreography of a court for a previously outlined, announced and delivered sentence. This death penalty, the only one that occurred in Abolitionist Portugal, can be configured as a crime in which the State is the author. The available evidence suggests that we may be facing a decision of a death penalty for those who had not committed the crime of what they were being accused, the desertion, being that the case, may not integrate itself in the gallery of judicial errors that coarse, but it does integrate before the category of crimes that were usually practised to serve as a paradigm to punish who actually wanted to desert. The letters, the produced testimonies, the procedural times, objective and subjective circumstances in which the death penalty was dictated and the condemnation implemented, indicate a travesty of justice, a legal sham, whose primitiveness remains intact almost one hundred years after its occurrence.
The trivialization of the use of death penalty in the context of war is one of greatest exponents of political violence by the Government against the weakest. In this communication we intend to carry out an analysis of the circumstances in which the death penalty was reintroduced in our country, during Portugal’s participation in First World War. We will also analyse, the soldier Joao Almeida’s trial, the target of this condemnation. In this analysis, we will consider, if the minimum requirements of a substantive justice were complied, if the guarantees of defence to the accused were granted, or if what happened was just a recreation of a basic choreography of a court for a previously outlined, announced and delivered sentence. This death penalty, the only one that occurred in Abolitionist Portugal, can be configured as a crime in which the State is the author. The available evidence suggests that we may be facing a decision of a death penalty for those who had not committed the crime of what they were being accused, the desertion, being that the case, may not integrate itself in the gallery of judicial errors that coarse, but it does integrate before the category of crimes that were usually practised to serve as a paradigm to punish who actually wanted to desert. The letters, the produced testimonies, the procedural times, objective and subjective circumstances in which the death penalty was dictated and the condemnation implemented, indicate a travesty of justice, a legal sham, whose primitiveness remains intact almost one hundred years after its occurrence.
Translated title of the contribution | Political Violence of the Government against the “lower classes” in the context of World War I: a warning a gainst the opponents of the war |
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Original language | Portuguese |
Title of host publication | Violência política no século XX |
Subtitle of host publication | Um balanço |
Editors | Ana Sofia Ferreira , João Madeira , Pau Casanellas |
Place of Publication | Lisboa |
Publisher | IHC-Instituto de História Contemporânea |
Pages | 183-194 |
Number of pages | 12 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-989-98388-3-3 |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2017 |
Event | I Colóquio Internacional sobre Violência Política no Século XX - Lisboa, Portugal Duration: 12 Mar 2015 → 14 Mar 2015 |
Conference
Conference | I Colóquio Internacional sobre Violência Política no Século XX |
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Country/Territory | Portugal |
City | Lisboa |
Period | 12/03/15 → 14/03/15 |
Keywords
- I Guerra Mundial
- Participação de Portugal na I Guerra Mundial
- Violência política do Estado
- João Almeida
- Pena de morte