The Coimbra Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Oliveira do Hospital Court, which convicted former Chega national councillor João Rogério Silva for the crime of violent damage committed last September. The court found that in March 2023, Silva rear-ended the vehicle of former Chega official António José Cardoso and subsequently struck the car with a knife and a hose. Silva received a two-year suspended prison sentence, which he appealed, claiming an error in the assessment of evidence. The Appeals Court rejected his arguments, confirming the conviction and the conditions of his suspended sentence, which include compensation payments to the victims and requirements to seek employment and cooperate with social reintegration services.
Appeals Court upholds conviction of former Chega national councillor for violent damage
Context & Explainers
Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
