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Capital punishment in Portugal has been abolished. Portugal was a pioneer in the abolition of capital punishment. No executions have been carried out since 1846, with the formal abolition of capital punishment for civil wrong occurring in 1867.

History

The method of capital punishment used in Portugal was by hanging. Portugal was the first country in the world to begin the process to abolish the death penalty, abolishing it in stages. For political crimes capital punishment was abolished in 1852, for all crimes except the military in 1867, and for all crimes in 1911. In 1916, Portugal entered in World War I and it was re-established for military crimes in wartime with a foreign country in the theatre of war.

With the new Constitution in 1976, capital punishment was again abolished for all crimes.

The last execution in Portugal took place in Lagos in 1846. The execution of a soldier of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps carried out in France during World War I was poorly documented until recently. Soldier João Augusto Ferreira de Almeida underwent an execution by firing squad on 16 September 1917. He was issued a "moral rehabilitation" by the Council of Ministers and the President of Portugal, also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in 2017, which was the 100th anniversary of his execution and 150th anniversary of the end of capital punishment for civil crimes in Portugal. The action was purely symbolic, and not a reappreciation of the facts of the case, an exoneration, or a pardon. This was merely the "rehabilitation of the memory of a soldier convicted to a sentence contrary to human rights and the values and principles that have been long ingrained in Portuguese society."

Public opinion

In the 2008 European Values Study (EVS), 51.6 percent of respondents in Portugal said the death penalty can never be justified, while only 1.5% said it can be always justified.

Politics

Today, most political circles are opposed to the idea of reintroducing the death penalty, although it has support from some members of the Chega, a far right, anti-immigration and nationalist political party. In a 2020 Chega party referendum, 44 percent voted in favor of death penalty for crimes such as terrorism or child abuse.

References

1. "The end of capital punishment in Europe", Capital Punishment UK
2. "Law 635: Amendment to the Portuguese Constitution of 1911, Article 3 – Exception on the Death Penalty Article" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Diário do Governo da República Portuguesa. 28 September 1916. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
3. "The end of capital punishment in Europe", Capital Punishment UK
4. "Document – Death Penalty Statistics 2006", Amnesty International
5. "Constitution of the Portuguese Republic: Article 24º, Nº2" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 March 2014.
6. "The end of capital punishment in Europe", Capital Punishment UK
7. "Document – Death Penalty Statistics 2006", Amnesty International
8. "Presidente da República associa-se a "reabilitação moral" de soldado condenado a pena de morte" [President of the Republic joins the "moral rehabilitation" of soldier sentenced to death] (in Portuguese). Diário de Notícias. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
9. "GESIS: ZACAT". zacat.gesis.org. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
10. "Chega militants fail death penalty and re-elect André Ventura". 6 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

• Capital punishment by country
• Law enforcement in Portugal
• 1981 in Portugal
• Political history of Portugal
• Death in Portugal
• 1911 disestablishments
• 1867 disestablishments
• 1976 disestablishments in Portugal