News Ticker

Portugal: Senior official, former deputy to ex-justice minister, arrested for sexual abuse of minors

December 17, 2025 GOVERNMENT, Spotlight, WORLD 0

.

ER Editor: This is still a topic on which we’re waiting for the very big shoe to drop. Notice that this man was caught by US authorities.

Translation: I’ve noticed the care taken by many media outlets in referring to this alleged pedophile. He is the “former deputy,” “deputy of the former justice minister,” or “lawyer, former deputy of the previous minister.” Let’s help: Dr. Paulo Abreu dos Santos was part of António Costa’s last socialist government.

Translation: Ex-Minister of Justice’s aide abused children in Seixal (city in Portugal) religious ceremony Paulo Abreu Santos is a member of ‘Orixás – Ilê Axé Omô Oxum’, a religious practice of African origin, very popular in Brazil +

This title bears out the claim in the above tweet —

House of worship frequented by former deputy of the Ministry of Justice investigated by the PJ. Manager denies complaints

This is worth a look. Notice ‘hundreds’ —

Leading lawyer/ former assistant to Justice minister in jail on suspicion of child sexual abuse

One of the country’s ‘leading lawyers’ working for a top law firm is in police custody on suspicion of having committed ‘hundreds’ of crimes involving the sexual abuse of young children.

Translation: Another animal suspected of committing heinous crimes against children between 4 and 14 years old. Suspected of hundreds of child pornography crimes and sexual abuses committed by himself and filmed with a mobile phone. (Paulo Abreu dos Santos, deputy to the former Minister of Justice, PS government)

********

Portugal: Senior official, former deputy to ex-justice minister, arrested for sexual abuse of minors

FRANCE SOIR

The news has sent shockwaves through Portugal. A lawyer and former colleague of the ex-Minister of Justice has admitted in court to sexually abusing at least two children aged around ten. His arrest came after the IP address of a computer at the Ministry of Justice was identified, where he committed several offenses related to downloading child pornography.

An international investigation originating in the United States and conducted with the support of the FBI led to the arrest of Paulo Abreu dos Santos and the search of his home, his law firm, and the Ministry of Justice, where he was an associate of the former minister, Catarina Sarmento e Castro.

Illegal content downloaded at his office

According to CNN Portugal, the investigation began after a tip-off from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), fed by automated systems from tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Signal. These platforms scan millions of files using “hashes” (a function that generates a unique digital fingerprint or signature, editor’s note) to detect shared child pornography images or videos, even on encrypted apps such as Signal, if automatic backups (Google/iCloud) or internal reports are enabled.

The data reported to the NCMEC, including the Portuguese IP address of the Ministry of Justice, was forwarded to the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ), which identified a computer at the ministry that had previously been used by the accused lawyer.

Several searches were carried out. Some of the evidence, such as videos of sexual offenses, was found at the home of Catarina Sarmento e Castro’s former deputy. Searches were also carried out at the law firm where Paulo Abreu dos Santos currently works, Ana Bruno & Associados. The same source states that some of the offenses related to illegal content took place in his office at the Ministry of Justice.

Placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday after being arrested by the PJ in partnership with the Lisbon Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP), the lawyer confessed to the judge that he had abused the two children. The PJ is attempting to formally identify the abused children so that they can be heard as victims in the case.

This confession was inevitable, as videos recorded by the suspect show him abusing the two victims. Approximately 500 files from several countries related to accessing and sharing child pornography were also recovered.

His office and faculty respond

The PJ then suspected Paulo Abreu dos Santos of being part of a national or international pedophile network, confiscating his cell phone to check whether other offenses had been committed and shared via social media platforms and networks.

In addition to his position at the ministry between 2023 and 2024, Paulo Abreu dos Santos was a visiting professor at the University of Lisbon’s law faculty. His law firm expressed shock at these revelations while distancing itself from him, while the faculty immediately terminated his contract.

Portugal has seen several child sex abuse scandals in recent years, with a peak of revelations in 2023 via an independent investigation into the Catholic Church revealing nearly 5,000 victims of sexual abuse by 512 clerical abusers over 60 years, leading to resignations and internal reforms. More recently, in April 2025, Europol dismantled the global KidFlix network, which specialized in live child pornography, with two Portuguese arrests among 79 suspects in a transnational operation.

In November 2025, the Polícia Judiciária, investigating an online child pornography sharing network in Lousada, made an arrest for possession and distribution of thousands of files.

Source

Featured image source: https://cnnportugal.iol.pt/pedofilia/paulo-abreu-dos-santos/ha-pelo-menos-duas-criancas-portuguesas-entre-as-abusadas-por-adjunto-de-ex-ministra/20251214/693f0405d34e3caad84c5ed6#Echobox=1765743475

************

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Related Articles

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


Copyright © 2012 - 2025 | TLB Project™ LLC