Portugal: President denies suggesting interior minister’s resignation in Ukrainian death case

The President of the Republic denies that he suggested the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Cabrita, and says that when he “understands that the conditions are met” he will speak personally with the widow of the Ukrainian citizen Ihor Homenyuk.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa takes these positions in a podcast recorded on Monday and released on Tuesday at www.perguntarnaooofende.pt/pno/presidenciais-2021-marcelo-rebelo-de-sousa.

Asked about the case of the death of Ihor Homenyuk in March last year in the premises of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) at Lisbon airport, the head of state again argues that he did not communicate with the family of the Ukrainian citizen because a criminal case was in progress.

Challenged to take advantage of this conversation to convey a message to the widow on behalf of the Portuguese, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states: “When I understand that the conditions to address this message are met, I will naturally address her personally”.

Asked if he has not acted in the face of “media pressure” by “insinuating that he wanted the resignation of the interior minister nine months after what happened”, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa counters: “But I didn’t insinuate. I was even asked if I was talking about the minister, and I said: no”.

“We must do him justice, he is a fighter by nature, he makes it a fundamental cause of human rights, at a time when the pandemic was dominating all attention, he unleashed internal investigations”.

The President said that “over time” he had been “communicating complaints about cases in the SEF to those in authority, but he did not say so in public”.