All Proceedings Against Boaventura de Sousa Santos Have Been Permanently Dismissed

• The legal proceedings involving Boaventura de Sousa Santos have been closed following the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office’s decision to dismiss the investigations due to the lack of formal complaints and the subsequent dismissal of the defamation lawsuit filed against the sociologist after the plaintiffs withdrew their complaint.

In addition to the dismissal of the investigation related to the allegations that arose at the Center for Social Studies (CES) at the University of Coimbra—which concluded due to the absence of formal complaints—the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office has now decided to dismiss the defamation lawsuit against Boaventura de Sousa Santos, after the three complainants withdrew from the criminal proceedings even before being admitted as parties to the case.

This latest decision brings to a close all the legal proceedings that remained open against Boaventura de Sousa Santos in connection with these cases. According to published reports, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office officially validated the complainants’ decision to withdraw their complaint and ordered the case to be closed.

The closure of these cases marks the end of a period of enormous public and media attention surrounding the Portuguese scholar, whose career has been significantly affected in recent years. This outcome once again highlights the importance of ensuring that any accusation is examined within established legal channels, respecting both the rights of those who file complaints and the due process rights of those accused.

Boaventura himself stated last April, when the investigations were closed due to the lack of a formal complaint against him, that “it was never the complainants’ intention that justice be served, that I be investigated, tried, or convicted of harassment. They never wanted to address the allegations against me in the appropriate forum, one governed by established rules, which is the courts.”

The smear campaign Boaventura has endured over the past three years has caused irreparable harm to the Portuguese thinker, whose voice has been silenced in the main progressive forums in both Europe and Latin America, highlighting the serious damage caused by such accusations when they are based solely on media reports and social media—a development that should concern all those who strive to strengthen today’s democracies.

Full article here.