Lawyer Manuel Fernandes says that the girly ads in Portugal’s newspapers are nothing more than an encouragement for prostitution and, as money is exchanged, the practice is illegal.
Three judges did not agree with him, stating that Portugal's newspapers were not breaking the law, so Fernandes is taking the matter to the highest court as the Portuguese constitution states that it is illegal to earn money from prostitution.
The lawyer says that by accepting money for the adverts that plague otherwise decent family newspapers, the owners are "profiting from escort services, massage parlours and those individuals who place the advertisements."
Fernandes has cited newspapers and websites that publish ads for prostitutes and now says that the judges that ruled against his petition are protecting newspapers and therefore not acting impartially, itself an offence.
The Coimbra lawyer, aged 52, says the evidence is all there every day and is indisputable with newspapers and websites publishing ads which ‘facilitate and encourage’ sex workers.
Newspapers carrying these often explicit ads may be acting as pimps, as defined in paragraph 1 of Article 169 of the Penal Code: ‘Any person who, professionally or for profit, promotes, encourages or facilitates the exercise by another person of prostitution can be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years.’
The Supreme Court will decide.
Comments
I question the word "needless"; if advertising were indeed needless, it would not happen. It may be distasteful, but I do not like everything I see in newspapers. Charly has a point - the Netherlands has a policy of legalising prostitution, and of taxing its proceeds. Prostitution will always happen - why not legalise and tax it?
Even the minister of environment may play with: ladies with lace underware will have to pay more "view" taxes than these using algodão underware....