Otelo jailed for 15 years

Press, 22 May 1987, Page 8

Otelo jailed for 15 years

NZPA-Reuter Lisbon The military leader of Portugal’s 1974 revolution, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, was yesterday found guilty of terrorism charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Army lieutenantcolonel had been accused of founding and heading a shadowy urban guerrilla organisation, the FP-25, which has claimed responsibility for killings, bombings and robberies since 1980. A Lisbon court also found more than 40 fellow defendants guilty of belonging to the terrorist group.

The verdict, read out in the top-security courtroom specially built for the case, came after a 19-month trial involving Otelo and more than 60 other suspects, 16 of whom were acquitted. Three other alleged of FP-25 were given jail terms of between 10 and 15 years. Sentences handed out to the remaining convicted ranged from seven months to 10 years. Otelo, the charismatic hero of Portugal’s 1974 revolution which toppled a Right-wing dictatorship, heard the sentence from a bullet-proof, glass-enclosed dock in the centre of the court

The prosecution had demanded a maximum sentence of 20 years for Otelo during the trial, which was one of the longest and most complex in Portuguese legal history.