Trial of 36 skinheads begins in Portugal

Rasp

Senior Editor
Trial of 36 skinheads begins in Portugal

An unprecedented trial of the Portuguese far right began Tuesday in Lisbon, with 36 people facing charges including racial discrimination, attacks, abductions, illegal ownership of weapons and spreading neo-Nazi propaganda.

The accused included Mario Machado, the Portuguese leader of the international Hammerskin skinhead movement.

Most of the accused were arrested a year ago in a vast police operation that searched 60 addresses, seizing 15 firearms, munition and explosives.

Machado has been in preventative custody since then. His main accomplices were placed under control measures such as having to report regularly at police stations.

The accused used the internet, concerts and meetings to spread racist and xenophobic ideas, according to police sources.

The charges against them include threats against dozens of people, such as the judge who ordered jail for Machado, and the ownership of steroids, which they did not intend to take themselves, but to sell to obtain funds.

The trial was accompanied by heavy security measures.

Machado was already sentenced to four years in prison for participating in a 1995 attack that killed a Portuguese citizen of Cape Verdean origin.

Racism-linked sentences have been rare in Portugal, but police say the far right is growing more violent. Dozens of suspects are under surveillance by police and the authorities, the daily Publico reported.
 
Neo-Nazi leader jailed

The leader of the nationalist far right party, Mário Machado, has been sentenced by the Monsanto Court in Lisbon to four years and 10 months in prison for racial discrimination, amongst other related crimes.

He was also convicted of crimes such as serious coercion, owning an illegal weapon, intimidation, damage and assault with the intent to cause serious bodily harm.

Another 35 suspects were also on trial in relation to crimes of racial discrimination, five of which resulted in effective prison sentences.

The final sentencing resulted in six prison sentences, five acquittals, and 17 suspended sentences, the remaining suspects being ordered to pay fines.

Mário Machado’s lawyer has confirmed he will appeal the sentence.

The 36 individuals, all connected to the ‘skinhead’ movement, were made suspects on November 29th, 2007 for crimes including racism, kidnapping, aggression, and possessing illegal weapons, following an investigation carried out by PJ police.

During the investigation, which entailed various house searches, fire weapons, ammunition, clubs, baseball bats and a range of other xenophobic and anti-Semitic paraphernalia was seized.

Mário Machado is known as the leader of the ‘Hammerskins’a far right group in Portugal.
 
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