Superjudge, Carlos Alexandre, said he is available to appear as a witness in defence of the environmentalist singled out by pulp producer, Celtejo, to pay €250,000 in compensation for besmirching the company’s name.Alexandre is available to help defend environmentalist, Arlindo Marquês, (pictured left) who has been complaining of the company’s industrial effluent that has been polluting the river Tejo, killing millions of fish and culminating in a blanket of foam which received media and government attention.
"I have made myself available and will serve as a witness for Arlindo Marquês in the process because I am from Mação, because I know the river well and its problems with pollution ... and for being in solidarity with Arlindo Marquês exercising his rights as a citizen," said the judge.
Carlos Alexandre lived in Mação until he was 18 years old and he once was a postman in the area so knows, "the river and the riverside people, the problems of pollution and the importance of its impacts on the Tejo."
‘Guardian of the Tejo,’ Arlindo Marquês, will benefit hugely from having Alexandre as a witness. The judge's intention to appear may be sufficient for the company to drop the case which is destined to bring it yet more adverse publicity.
Alexandre commented, "The deterioration of the waters of the Tejo, downstream of Vila Velha de Rodão, is evident, and I shall bear witness to this in court, in defence of Arlindo, because he has advised me of the work he has been doing as a concerned citizen."
In December, Celtejo filed a lawsuit against the proTEJO environmental activist, for "statements that are intended to generate the public opinion that the author is responsible or co-responsible for the alleged pollution of the river Tejo."
In a case the pot calling the kettle black, the company is taking Arlindo Marquês to court "to compensate the plaintiff for damages suffered as a result of the offence committed," i.e. that he has somehow damaged a good reputation that existed only in the mind of Celtejo's owner.
