There are several legal types that determine the commission of a crime for someone who reports false facts, under certain assumptions and in certain circumstances.
The most common situations include false testimony, false testimony or statements, the crime of false statements and the crime of slanderous reporting, therefore, in a very succinct way and with the annotation(s) considered most relevant, are described in the following terms:
I. Crime of False Testimony
II. Crime of False Testimony or Statements
III. Retraction
IV. Crime of False Declarations
V. Crime of Slanderous Report
*
I. Crime of False Testimony
Provides for art. 360 of the CP that, with reference to the crime of false testimony, anyone who, as a witness, before a court or an official competent to receive evidence or testimony, gives false testimony, commits a crime, is punished with a penalty that can range from up to 3 years in prison – cf. no. 1 of art. 360th of the CP.
If this occurs after taking the oath and after being warned of the criminal consequences, the penalty could be up to 5 years in prison – cf. no. 3 of art. 360th of the CP.
If you refuse to give a statement, you will incur the same penalty – cf. no. 2 of art. 360th of the CP.
Regarding this last point, it should be noted that, in accordance with paragraph 2 of art. 132 of the CPP: “The witness is not obliged to answer questions when he claims that the answers result in his criminal liability.”
It is not uncommon to find, within the same process or even different processes, statements that are contrary/antagonistic to each other and of mutual exclusion, made by the same individual, without it being possible to say, with certainty, which of the versions is the one. true (if there is one), and which is false (which, in this case, will necessarily happen).
In this case, on the one hand, this fact will be relevant to assess the credibility of the witness, and on the other, regardless of knowing which of the versions will be the true one (if any) and the false one, the author of the statements will be punished for committing this crime. .
*
II. Crime of False Testimony or Statements
In the case of a civil party (Plaintiff, Defendant, Claimant, Respondent, Claimant, Respondent, etc.) or, in the context of criminal proceedings, Claimant, Respondent (who is not a cumulative defendant, naturally) or Assistant, and after having sworn and have been warned of the criminal consequences to which they are exposed by providing false testimony, making false statements will be punished with a sentence of up to 3 years in prison. – cf. paragraphs 1 and 2 of art. 359th of the CP.
*
III. Retraction
Notwithstanding the commission of the crimes set out in the previous chapters, the “perpetrator” of the same may prevent the punishment of the conduct if he voluntarily retracts it, in time for this to be taken into consideration in the decision and there has been no harm to a third party. – cf. art. 362 of the CP.
*
IV. Crime of False Declarations
In turn, art. 348.º-A of the CP (added through Law no. 19/2013, of 21 February) that commits a crime of “False Declarations” is anyone who “declares or attests falsely to the public authority or to an official in the exercise of their functions identity, status or other quality to which the law attributes legal effects, whether personal or third party” , with the penalty being up to two years in prison – cf. paragraphs 1 and 2 of art. 348th of the CP.
This precept criminalized conduct that is not subsumable, namely, to the legal precept mentioned above, such as, for example, providing false identification before the Criminal Police Body (either in the road context (about a third party who would be driving a vehicle or about the identity of the for this purpose); within the scope of investigation, etc.).
[This, without prejudice to the criminalization of false statements by the defendant about his identity, was already criminalized by paragraph 2 of art. 359th of the CP]
*
V. Crime of Slanderous Report
Finally, it should be noted that anyone who, before authority [Court, MP, OPC, public administration agents with competence to apply sanctions in the context of administrative or disciplinary offenses, etc.], or publicly, and with awareness of the falseness of the imputation , reporting or suspecting someone of committing a crime or an administrative offense or disciplinary offense, will be punished, respectively, with a sentence of up to 3 years in prison or 1 year in prison, respectively. - cf. art. 365th of the CP .
As the Court of Appeal of Porto eloquently demonstrates, through a ruling issued in the context of case 12/12.1TAAFE-A.P1, dated 12/03/2014, even with reference to the presentation of a criminal complaint, if in the same if they impute dishonorable facts or judgments to a third party, it will be necessary to analyze whether “(i) it only denounces facts capable of constituting a crime [in view of the “almost unrestricted possibility of denouncing facts that it considers criminal”] , (ii) whether it presents them in a in an intentional manner with the awareness of its falsity [in which the crime of slanderous denunciation will occur] , or if, in addition to the denunciation, (iii) it issues vexatious value judgments about the accused [in which we will be faced with the commission of a crime of defamation] .”
Comments