The Attorney General's Office today has insisted that justice be done in the ‘Ponte de Sor’ case and is not interested that the Iraqi ambassador has agreed a compensation payment with Rúben Cavaco’s lawyers to cover the lad’s injuries.
The State prosecution service insists on the need to lift the diplomatic immunity of the ambassador’s twin boys who already have accepted responsibility for the beating given to Cavaco in Ponte de Sor last August.
The Attorney General's Office now has stated that the case has sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that the minister can sort out what needs to be done to lift the immunity that currently covers the Iraqis.
In the same communication, the Attorney General's Office said that a "crime of a public nature" is being investigated.
The investigation can only go ahead if the diplomatic immunity of the children is lifted.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed receipt of the instruction from the Attorney General's Office which “confirms the need to lift the diplomatic immunity of the children of the Ambassador of Iraq ... so that this process can continue in Portugal.”
The attack occurred on August 17, 2016, when Rúben Cavaco was beaten senseless in Ponte de Sor, Portalegre, by the children of the Iraqi ambassador in Portugal.
Cavaco suffered multiple fractures and was taken from his local health centre to the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon, where he was placed in an induced coma.
Cavaco was discharged in early September but has not regained his previous level of health.
The two children of the ambassador have diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention. The Portuguese Government twice has asked Iraq to waive this immunity so that the twins could be heard as defendants.
Each time a deadline approached, the Iraqi authorities "have raised legal issues," the latest on January 6th when the Iraqi authorities asked for more information about the “conditions of interrogation of other witnesses."
These questions have been answered and the Attorney General's Office now is pressing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the immunity lifted.
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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". This is ratified by 192 of 194 member countries.