The Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon announced this Monday, December 15, that it has suspended the contractual relationship with Paulo Abreu dos Santos, former deputy to the previous Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro. The decision came following the news about the preventive detention applied, on Saturday, to the lawyer on suspicion of pornography of minors and sexual abuse of children.
The higher education establishment, where Paulo Abreu dos Santos provides teaching services as a guest assistant, states in a statement that the situation “caused deep consternation in the academic community”.
Given the information about the professor, the institution “decided to suspend its public employment relationship (fixed-term public employment contract) with the faculty”, the note reads.
“Issues relating to the evaluation of students in the disciplines where the teacher provided services are being duly taken care of at the institutional level”, states the Faculty of Law.
It is also mentioned in the statement that the faculty “is taking steps to collect relevant information in collaboration with the competent authorities”. The institution indicates that it “continues to monitor developments in the case to intervene if and when appropriate.”
A law firm where the former deputy of the Ministry of Justice worked, however, expressed “shocked and dismayed” by the case.
“Having been surprised by the news reporting the involvement of former collaborator, Dr. Paulo Abreu Santos, in the context of a serious criminal investigation, the Society is shocked and dismayed by their content”, says Ana Bruno & Associados in a statement on its official website.
Emphasizing being “completely unaware of and unaware of the alleged behavior” of the lawyer, the company guarantees that it trusts “that the competent institutions will carry out their work, so that the truth of the facts is ascertained and the consequent legal conclusions are drawn”.
The former deputy to the previous Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, was arrested on Thursday by the Judiciary Police and, according to TVI/CNN, was caught red-handed during a search of his residence, where files were found that incriminate him for sexual crimes involving minors.
Two days later, the court ordered the preventive detention of the defendant, who worked at the Ministry of Justice in 2023 and 2024, a police source confirmed to Lusa.
According to the CV note in the Diário da República, Paulo Jorge Abreu dos Santos, aged 38, has a degree in Law and has developed professional activity as a lawyer and reviewer, particularly in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation, insolvency and arbitration.