Former aide to the Justice Minister charged with 7,986 child-related sexual offences

Months after his arrest following a tip-off by the FBI, Paulo Abreu dos Santos, a former aide to Justice Minister Catarina Sarmento e Castro (during the last PS Socialist government), has been formally charged with no less than 7,986 child-related sexual offences.

The news comes from CNN Portugal, which adds that of the total offences, 7,095 relate to the possession and sharing of images and videos depicting child abuse and child pornography; 889 concern images he took of a 10-year-old boy who he met at a ‘religious temple’; and two are for sexual abuse against that boy, at the same temple.

Abreu was arrested in December after the Judicial Police carried out a number of searches and discovered more than 500 files showing children aged between 4 and 14 being abused – including videos of acts involving minors allegedly committed by the suspect himself.

Abreu has remained in pre-trial detention since then.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that Paulo Abreu dos Santos began using various platforms in 2021 to access pedophilic content, including Telegram, Viber and Signal.

According to CNN, the lawyer who used to work for prestigious Lisbon law firm Ana Bruno & Associados, accessed such material through 13 chat groups, some bearing names such as “kids boys only” and “videos of boys.”

The defendant was identified through an international investigation that originated in the United States.

Source: ECO online

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.