This Tuesday, December 2, the Public Ministry (MP) requested a sentence of eight to 12 years in prison for the former vice-president of the Chamber of Gaia Patrocínio Azevedo on suspicion of corruption in the Operation Babel process.
During the closing arguments at the Vila Nova de Gaia Court, in the Porto district, the MP prosecutor also considered that the penalty to be applied to Patrocínio Azevedo should even be above the middle of the range of eight to 12 years in prison, that is, 10 years.
Furthermore, the prosecutor argued that the former vice-president of the chamber, elected by the PS, should be banned from holding office for six years.
Patrocínio Azevedo, who was in pre-trial detention for around 23 months, is one of the 16 defendants in Operation Babel, related to the alleged tampering and violation of norms and instruction in urban licensing processes in Vila Nova de Gaia, in the district of Porto.
“The requirements for general prevention of this type of crime are extremely high”, understood the MP.
Furthermore, the prosecutor stated that, during the trial, which began in January, Patrocínio Azevedo masked facts and distorted contexts, admitting nothing.