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According to Pedro Gomes, and according to the document sent to the Lusa agency, it is about the defense of human rights and the rights, freedoms and guarantees guaranteed by the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
According to the lawyer, originally from Ponta Delgada, “all citizens residing” in the Azores, and those who were “imposed administrative measures”, provided for in a resolution “devoid of legal effectiveness”, were subject to “illegal measures, from the beginning on freedom of movement between municipalities on the island of São Miguel ”.
The lawyer declares that the resolution of the Governing Council No. 123/2020, of May 4, 2020, is in question, which establishes a set of measures for the non-definition and recovery of the economy of the Azores, within the scope of the covid-19 pandemic.
The lawyer points out that, with the cessation of the state of emergency declaration decreed by the President of the Republic, “the state of constitutional exception has ceased, resuming constitutional normality”, and the exercise of rights, liberties and guarantees “only can be suspended in case of state of siege or state of emergency ”, according to the terms of article 19 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
With the cessation of the state of emergency and the decree that imposes the calamity situation throughout the national territory until May 17, the Government of the Azores decreed the contingency situation, until May 31, for the São Miguel islands , Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial, and the alert situation for the islands of Santa María, Flores and Corvo, during the same period.
This means that “it is legally faced with a state of administrative exception that is not confused in its constitutional assumptions with the state of exception”, because, “from the beginning, it does not admit any limitation or restriction on rights, freedoms and guarantees”, The lawyer defended.
For Pedro Gomes, the resolution mentioned by the Governing Council, despite having been approved on April 30 and referring to “entering into force on the date of its approval”, was only published in the Official Gazette of the Autonomous Region of the Azores on May 4, so “only after that date has it become legally effective.”
For the lawyer, this means that “all citizens residing in the Azores and all citizens who were imposed administrative measures, provided for in a resolution without legal effect”, were for a certain period of time “subject to illegal measures, freedom of movement between municipalities on the island of São Miguel or the maintenance of mandatory quarantines for passengers who land at airports located in the territory of the Autonomous Region of the Azores ”.
Pedro Gomes points out that the restrictions imposed by the Government of the Azores “are unconstitutional” because they impose a “general quarantine regime for citizens simply by traveling to the Azores, or even between the islands of the region, without any indication or symptom of the greedy. -19 “.
These restrictions “constitute a real detention imposed by an administrative authority,” since “quarantined citizens cannot leave their hotel rooms and cannot have face-to-face contact with third parties, first of all with a lawyer.”
For the lawyer, the resolution of the Governing Council imposes that the mandatory confinement of non-residents, in hotel units in the region, become, from 00:00 hours on May 8, “fully financed by themselves “establish a” difference in treatment between residents and non-residents in the territory of the Azores “.
The measure “violates the principle of equality”, which “prohibits different treatment due to the territory of origin”.
Pedro Gomes says, in relation to Government Council Resolution No. 77/2020, of March 27, which imposes mandatory quarantines, that “it is not possible, under penalty of normative schizophrenia” to understand, taking into account the cessation of the state of emergency, which “will enter into force on May 4, even with the disappearance of the Portuguese legal order of the norm that allows this resolution.”
Therefore, he argues that this resolution “was no longer in force in the regional legal system on May 4, 2020, and all quarantines imposed under it are illegal.”
In his presentation before the Ombudsman, Pedro Gomes requests a “more urgent intervention” recommending the Regional Government to “revoke the provisions of that resolution.”
The lawyer also suggests a possible request to the Constitutional Court to evaluate the constitutionality of the norms in question.
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