The lawyer and former deputy of the Ministry of Justice, detained preventively since Saturday, is accused of more than 500 crimes of pornography of minors and two of sexual abuse of children, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) explained this Tuesday, December 16th.
“Considering that more than five hundred crimes of pornography of minors and two crimes of child sexual abuse have been indicted and the dangers of serious disruption of public order and tranquility, continuation of criminal activity and concealment of evidence have been verified, the criminal investigation judge, in line with what was promoted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, decided to subject the defendant to the coercive measure of preventive detention”, he informed, in response to Lusa, an official PGR source.
The same source added that the investigation was opened at the “end of April 2024, following a referral from the Homeland Security Investigation” (a federal agency in the United States of America) to the Judiciary Police (PJ), “which assists the Public Ministry in the investigation”.
According to the Diário da República, Paulo Abreu dos Santos worked as an assistant at the Ministry of Justice in the office of the previous holder of the portfolio, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, between September 26, 2022 and September 2, 2023.
On Monday, a source linked to the investigation told Lusa that one of the IPs (address that identifies Internet access) initially flagged by the authorities was that of the Ministry of Justice and another that of the defendant’s residence.
According to the same source, there are indications that the lawyer filmed some pornography of minors discovered on his cell phone, having confessed to one of the crimes.
The investigation is led by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of Lisbon and is subject to external judicial secrecy, informed the PGR.
Paulo Abreu dos Santos, 38 years old, was also a guest assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, an institution that announced, on Monday, the suspension of the contractual relationship with the lawyer.