According to Lusa, the same source stated that João Ataíde resigned after the statements of the Minister of Internal Affairs (MAI) in Parliament, which aimed at a report prepared by the inspector. In parliament, the minister said that João Ataíde sent, five days after the death of the Ukrainian citizen, to the then director of the SEF, Cristina Gatões, a report in which he said that the viewing of video surveillance images did not provide "any indication of aggression and mistreatment".
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, was heard on Tuesday in parliament regarding the murder of Ihor Homeniuk in March, in the space equated to temporary installation centere of Lisbon Airport of the Service of Foreigners and Borders (SEF), at the request of the unregistered deputy Joacine Katar Moreira and the PSD political party.
Eduardo Cabrita announced in parliament that legislation on the restructuring of SEF will be produced in January. The MAI had already disclosed that the restructuring process of SEF should be completed in the first half of 2021 and that it would be coordinated by the deputy national directors of the Service, José Luís do Rosário Barão - who ascended to director in replacement regime - and Fernando Parreiral da Silva.
Ihor Homeniuk was the victim of the violent assaults of three SEF inspectors, accused of first-degree murder, with the alleged complicity or cover-up of 12 other inspectors. The trial of this case will begin on the 20 January.
Nine months after the alleged murder, the director of the SEF, Cristina Gatões, resigned last week, after some opposition parties demanded political consequences of this case, and Eduardo Cabrita considered that it "did well to cease functions" and that it would not be able to lead the process of restructuring the body. This process was at the center of a controversy between the national director of PSP and Eduardo Cabrita, on Sunday, after the head of the police force admitted that the merger of PSP with the Service of Foreigners and Borders (SEF) is being worked. After Magina da Silva's statements to journalists, at the end of a meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the minister replied that the reform of the SEF will be announced "appropriately" by the Government "and not by a police director".