Major paedophile court case opens in Portugal

RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon

[Presenter] About an hour late, the Casa Pia [state-run home for children at risk] court case has now started. Two years after the paedophile scandal broke the case has finally come to Lisbon's Boa Hora court. Seven defendants, some of them public figures, and more than 30 alleged victims of paedophile acts will be heard. Luis Soares reports:

[Reporter] The seven defendants are already inside the court with their lawyers. Carlos Cruz [TV presenter], is perhaps the best known figure, He has been charged with five crimes of sexual abuse of minors and one homosexual act with an adolescent. Carlos Silvino [worked at the home], the main defendant, was the single defendant in another court case which has been incorporated into this mega Casa Pia case. He is charged with over 600 sexual crimes. [Passage omitted]. The court session started at about 1035. Seventeen journalists and 13 members of the public have been allowed into the court room.