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2020-11-26
Henrique Salinas explains whether confinement violation is a crime of disobedience

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With the renewal of the State of Emergency by the Government, the Portuguese have to remain in confinement for the established periods, otherwise, they may incur a crime of disobedience to the law as provided for in the Penal Code. However, the Court of Appeal of Guimarães recently ruled in the opposite direction, stating that this is not a crime. The partner responsible for CCA's Criminal Law & Compliance area, Henrique Salinas, explains to ECO-Advocatus to what extent the citizen can incur a criminal offense.

 "The violation of the obligation of confinement may reflect the practice of a crime of disobedience, provided that, in the first place, this is provided for in the Law of the Assembly of the Republic or in a Decree-Law published in the use of legislative authorization by the Assembly of the Republic, which did not happen here. It was for this reason that the respective legal norm has been declared unconstitutional and, in my opinion, well", explains the CCA partner.

As for the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Guimarães, last week, Henrique Salinas agrees that the violation of compulsory confinement does not constitute a crime of disobedience, because the government decree that created this new criminal offense “is wounded by organic unconstitutionality”.