Contacted by Lusa agency, lawyer Manuel Magalhães e Silva limited himself to confirming that Eduardo Cabrita was constituted and interrogated as a defendant this morning at the premises of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) in Évora.

The former governor, accompanied by the lawyer Manuel Magalhães e Silva, arrived at the DIAP facilities in Évora around 10:00 am to be interrogated as a defendant by the Public Ministry (MP).

At the entrance, Eduardo Cabrita refused to make statements to the journalists, having been, on the way out, about an hour later, equally sparse in words: “What I had to say, I said in the process”, he said.

Magalhães e Silva limited himself to adding that Eduardo Cabrita “confirmed the statements he had made before the Public Prosecutor's Office and responded to the clarifications that were asked of him”.

In the investigation of the case, according to the files consulted in December by Lusa, the former minister said that he did not give “any indication as to the speed to be adopted” by the vehicle, “nor of urgency to reach the destination”.

As for his work agenda, Eduardo Cabrita then explained that “there were no external appointments scheduled, only internal meetings” at the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI), on the afternoon of that day.

On June 18, 2021, the official vehicle in which Eduardo Cabrita was travelling in fatally ran over Nuno Santos, a worker who was maintaining Highway 6 (A6), at kilometre 77,600 of the road, in the Estremoz-Évora direction.

Negligent homicide

Initially, the MP had only brought charges against the driver who was driving the official vehicle in which the then politician was a passenger, but the Auto-Mobilized Citizens Association, which became an assistant in the process, considered, after consulting the file, that there was sufficient evidence to blame the former minister for a crime of negligent homicide.

In view of the association's request, the Public Prosecutor's Office decided to reopen the case and ordered the prosecutor in charge of the investigation to appoint Eduardo Cabrita and the respective head of personal security as defendants.