Ventura says he respects the Public Prosecutor's Office's investigation and is confident it will be archived.

The Chega leader said today that he respects the opening of the investigation opened against him by the Public Prosecutor's Office and expressed his conviction that it will be archived, considering it to be a matter of "political freedom".

At a press conference at Chega's national headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura said he had not yet been informed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the opening of the investigation, as he had disclosed, in the Assembly of the Republic, the names of immigrant children enrolled in a Lisbon school, but expressed "respect for Portuguese justice."

"I'm confident that we'll get to the end and realize that this is a matter of political freedom, political action, and political discourse," he said, noting that in similar cases like this, including those involving him, the courts concluded that it was "in line with freedom of expression."

André Ventura said he regretted, however, that the justice system was "wasting time looking at Parliament," considering that this was time "that could be spent investigating crimes of rape, corruption, money laundering," or arson.

The Chega leader said he still doesn't know what prompted the opening of the investigation, but said he suspects it was due to complaints from civic associations or movements, considering whether he is creating a "new way of doing politics, which is to criminalize politicians, trying to make everything they say a crime," making an appeal to these associations.

"We shouldn't clog the criminal justice system because we don't like a politician, because we want to see him face serious charges because we can't fight them," he said.

The Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed today the opening of an investigation into the president of Chega, André Ventura, and the party's deputy Rita Matias, regarding the disclosure of the names of immigrant children enrolled in a Lisbon school.

In a response sent to Lusa, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) stated that “the opening of an investigation related to the matter is confirmed”.

André Ventura mentioned the list of names in the Assembly of the Republic during the parliamentary debate on changes to the nationality law in early July, and Rita Matias released the full names in a video shared on social media.

“These gentlemen are not Portuguese at all,” said André Ventura, to a standing ovation from his bench.