According to the ruling of the Lisbon Local Civil Court, André Ventura was ordered to “remove, within 24 hours, all posters he placed in public spaces and in various locations throughout the country with the slogan 'Gypsies must obey the law – André Ventura presidential elections 2026'”.

Judge Ana Barão also ordered Ventura “to refrain from, in the future, directly or indirectly ordering or promoting the posting of posters of identical or equivalent content”.

For each day of delay, for each poster that remains in public beyond the 24-hour deadline set by the court for removal, or for each new poster that may be placed, the leader of Chega will have to pay a fine of 2,500 euros, the ruling also ordered.

The judge argued that the right to freedom of expression, or to André Ventura's political freedom of expression, is not denied, but that he is required to exercise it with “responsibility in the sense of protecting the human rights of all and in the sense of combating discrimination, in particular racial or ethnic."

“Discriminatory ideas”

Having admitted in court that he knows there are Roma people who obey the law, but reiterating his conviction that none do, "the defendant cannot fail to know that his conviction is based on discriminatory ideas and attacks an ethnic minority," the judge argued.

"The exercise of his freedom of expression, under the terms now being challenged, because it attacks the supreme value of human dignity and the right to non-discrimination based on race and ethnicity, must be restricted. In other words, the restriction of the defendant's freedom of expression is justified, in this specific case, by an imperative social need – the prohibition of discrimination based on race or ethnicity," says the decision, which cites the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ruling considered that the plaintiffs in the action against André Ventura, representatives of the Roma community in Portugal, "were affected in their right to honour, good name, reputation, and development of personality."

For Ana Barão, "it was proven" that, with the placement of these posters, André Ventura “intended to address non-Roma citizens” and for them to read the phrase in the sense that Roma people do not obey the law, “an objective that was achieved, hence the public controversy generated around it, as the defendant himself confessed.”

The judge argued that the meaning “that a normal recipient” attributes to the phrase is its implicit meaning and not its literal meaning.

“Now, this implicit meaning is, in itself, discriminatory.” "Not only because it segregates citizens of Roma ethnicity from other citizens (aggravating the existing social divide between them; reinforcing the – mistaken – idea that there is an 'us' and a 'them'; and trivializing the breaking of the law by non-Roma citizens), but also because it denies the diversity of the affected social group and the individuality of its members (there will be individuals of Roma ethnicity who obey the law and others who do not, as the defendant himself confesses)," reads the decision to which Lusa had access.

Ana Barão considered that the phrase used by Ventura "is serious" because "it was thought out (it was not uttered in the heat of a political debate)" and because "it was designed to cause a specific social impact in relation to a social group."

“Not innocent”

She stressed that the use of posters "is not innocent," due to their impact and visibility, particularly among children and young people of school age, whose "daily confrontation" with that message can condition their view of Roma communities, but Also in society in general, exacerbating “stigma and prejudice” and fostering “intolerance, segregation, discrimination and, ultimately, hatred.”

The civil action brought by six representatives of the Roma community, which was judged at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon last week, achieved all its objectives, although the fine was set at half the amount sought.

In court, André Ventura argued that it would be a “very serious precedent” if the court decided to remove the posters, adding that he understood that what was being judged was his political activity. The petitioners' defence, handled by lawyer Ricardo Sá Fernandes, countered that a “terrible precedent” would be to keep the posters.

In reaction to the decision, Sá Fernandes stated: “This is a sentence that helps us to have a more just and decent country, a victory for the resistance of the Roma people.”