Chega proposes reforestation as a punishment for arsonists
The party's president, André Ventura, advocated in a Facebook video that arsonists, while serving their sentences, be required to reforest the country. Ventura classifies these criminals as terrorists and suggests maximum penalties for those who refuse to perform this task, in response to the increase in fires in Portugal.
Chega's president, André Ventura, released a video on Facebook in which he suggests that those responsible for the fires reforest the country while they are in prison.
"I consider anyone who sets fire to be a terrorist and should be punished with prison. For me, it would be life imprisonment, but that penalty doesn't exist in Portugal. It's our problem; almost every European country has it. However, I think we should go further: we should force them to reforest the country and rebuild what they destroyed," Ventura stated in the video, where he asked for public opinion.
"Some people say, 'But this is hard work, and what if they refuse to do it?' Well, I have the solution for that. If they refuse to perform this task, they must serve the maximum sentence. Is this a harsh measure? Yes, but it's even harder to see this happen every year," emphasized the Chega leader.
On Monday, the newspaper Expresso reported, based on data from the Judiciary Police, that the majority of arsonists arrested this year are suspected of having set other fires, some just days or even hours apart.
To date, more than 70 suspects have been arrested, a number considered high compared to previous years. In total, the PJ has a list of 900 arsonists.
jornaleconomico
