Portugal to investigate far-right leader over anti-Roma remarks

By Andrei Khalip

LISBON (Reuters) -Portuguese prosecutors have opened a probe into remarks made by far-right leader Andre Ventura against the Roma community, three days after an election in which his Chega party surged and was tied for second place in parliament.

The public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday it had opened the investigation after receiving a complaint against Ventura. It gave no further details.

The Letras Nomadas non-profit group, which promotes jobs and education for the Roma community, said it was one of 10 associations behind the complaint, which was made because they considered pre-election online videos published by Ventura as an incitement to hatred.

The Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority and have a long history of social exclusion and discrimination.

In one of the videos, Ventura ranted at municipalities that he said were building social housing specifically for the Roma, asking: "But why are we building houses for gypsies? Are we building for normal people?"

"That video was the most offensive to us, although others were also pretty serious," said Bruno Goncalves, vice president of Letras Nomadas.  

"Ventura even said in the video he'd probably get complaints over that statement. He knew he was crossing the line." 

Chega officials had no immediate reaction to the investigation.

Ventura is a law postgraduate who once trained to be a priest but who made his name as a TV sports commentator. He gained notoriety in 2018 with incendiary remarks against the Roma.

He founded the anti-establishment Chega in 2019, advocating tougher sentences for criminals, calling for an end to Portugal's "open doors" immigration policy and accusing the mainstream political parties of perpetuating corruption.

Chega became the third-largest parliamentary force in 2022, quadrupled its parliamentary seats last year to 50 and added at least eight seats in Sunday's election, with votes from abroad yet to be counted and four seats to be attributed. 

These votes could make Chega the main opposition party to the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. 

AD won 89 seats, more than in the previous election, but no parliamentary majority. 

Montenegro has refused to make any deals with Chega.  

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; editing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Sharon Singleton)