Portuguese socialist leader denounces "plot" against his party

RTP Internacional TV, Lisbon

The leader of Portugal's opposition Socialist Party, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, has strongly denied allegations carried by a leading Lisbon weekly that he was present in premises where pedophile acts occurred, although there was no suggestion that he was a participant.

"It's not very difficult in Portugal to guess the headlines that will appear in the daily and weekly newspapers in attempts to manufacture news stories," he said in remarks broadcast on Saturday by Portuguese TV. "I myself had already spoken of an attempt to associate me with this affair, and the attorney-general has denied that there is any case against me," he added.

"But tomorrow there will be more news reports, and I hereby warn the Portuguese to the meaning of these manoeuvres and to the need for us all to demand the total truth on this affair," Mr Ferro Rodrigues added.

"I will not rest - [changes thought] I said this could be the last fight of my life, but this is a fundamental fight, not so much to defend myself as to defend Portuguese justice and democracy in Portugal," he concluded.

The TV also read out a subsequent written statement by the socialist leader in which he says that he is "the target of an infamous calumny" and describes the allegations as confirming his suspicions of "a slanderous plot against the Socialist leadership".

The statement added that Sunday's meeting of the party's national committee would be "the right venue to respond with firmness and vigour to this moment of extreme gravity".

A major investigation was launched in November 2002 after media claimed that more than 100 boys from the Casa Pia network of orphanages and schools for the underprivileged had suffered abuse since the 1970s.