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Luís Filipe Vieira decided to remove António Costa, Fernando Medina and “all the holders of public office” from the list of the honor commission for their candidacy for the Benfica elections, which will be held in October. The president of Benfica, who assures that he is seeing “in recent days one of the most hypocritical and demagogic campaigns” of which he has “memory”, understood that “the time had come to react.”
The president of Benfica attacks “journalists and commentators who, in a history of excesses, without knowledge of the facts, but with the complicity of those who are partially feeding them with the sole objective of polluting public perception, are undermining the media space” – and that He replaced the judges. And António Costa and Fernando Medina defend, “attacked in an incomprehensible and clumsy way”, “not because of the support that as partners” of Benfica they understood to give (“as they had already done in 2012 and 2016”) but because of the “public perception of that, in a concerted way, the media were ‘building’ ”.
Vieira, for his part, assures that he is “with a clear conscience” and that he will leave “at the foot of the presidency of Sporting Lisboa e Benfica” if he is ever convicted in “some of the processes that are so much talked about these days “. “The presence in an honor committee ends there, it does not extend beyond the elections. That’s how it was in the past and that’s how it would be in this electoral window ”.
Read the full statement:
After witnessing one of the most hypocritical and demagogic campaigns of recent days in my memory, I understand that the time has come to react.
We live in times when justice began to be served on Facebook, social networks and the media. Times in which the judges were replaced by journalists and commentators who, in a register of excesses, without knowledge of the facts, but with the complicity of those who are partially feeding them with the sole objective of contaminating public perception, are undermining the space media. The moments in the newspapers herald condemnation and when the leaders of the most populist political parties and politicians willfully forget one of the basic principles on which our rule of law is based. Times in which seriousness and rigor are lacking. Times in which, when justice finally arrives, there is no longer justice. Moments in which the good name and reputation of people are lost in the media avalanche that nullifies any presumption of innocence.
In the last four days, António Costa, Fernando Medina and many others were attacked in an incomprehensible and clumsy way, not because of the support that as partners of Sport Lisboa and Benfica they understood to give me, as they had already done in 2012 and 2016 without having attended by any kind of fuss, but precisely because of the public perception that, in a concerted way, the media were “constructing”, misrepresenting and using as a catalyst for a populist smear campaign.
I repeat what I already said, I have a clear conscience and, if I am convicted, in the future, in any of the processes that are being talked about these days, I will be the first to take the initiative, leaving the presidency of Sport Lisboa e Benfica to my feet .
It is time for party leaders, and some of the most outraged politicians these days, to care more about fighting the tendency to turn the news of a suspicion or a judicial charge into a final sentence.
There the presence in an honor committee ends, it does not extend beyond the election. It was like that in the past and it would be like that in this electoral window. As it is my duty, I have to thank all the fans who have so far decided to express their support for me, but I cannot allow them to use Sport Lisboa e Benfica and my commission of honor in political struggles that have nothing to do with the Club to which I preside and whose presidency I will be re-elected. I cannot tolerate that this defamatory climate is prolonged, nor that it can be used to unduly attack the character and seriousness of those who have limited themselves to expressing, as partners, their support.
In that sense, and thanking everyone for their expressed availability, I took the initiative to remove from my honor committee everyone, everyone, the holders of public office, be they mayors, deputies or members of the Government. It is sad that, 46 years after April 25, it is necessary to censor those who freely decided to express their support for me, but today’s populism and demagoguery force me to do so to end a controversy. unjustified and deeply hypocritical.
