Lawyer Paulo Abreu dos Santos, former deputy to the previous Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, in the last government of António Costa, was held this Saturday, December 13, in pre-trial detention on suspicion of pornography of minors and sexual abuse of children.
The news was released by TVI/CNN and confirmed by a police source to the Lusa agency.
Paulo Abreu dos Santos was arrested on Thursday by the Judiciary Police and, according to TVI/CNNwas caught in the act during a search of his residence, where files were found that incriminate him for sexual crimes involving minors.
According to the same source, the lawyer accessed, shared and produced illegal content involving minors, some of which came from his own office at the Ministry of Justice, where he worked between 2023 and 2024. Part of the crimes were committed directly by himself, who filmed the abuse with a cell phone.
The court ordered the 38-year-old defendant’s preventive detention.
According to the CV note in the Diário da República, Paulo Jorge Abreu dos Santos has a degree in Law and developed professional activity as a lawyer and reviewer, particularly in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation, insolvency and arbitration.
Paulo Abreu dos Santos was also a guest assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and a lawyer at the firm Ana Bruno & Associados, which has since removed any mention of the lawyer’s collaboration from its website, according to CNN.