Portugal MP seeks prison for PSP officer who shot Odair Moniz

The Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office, led by prosecutor Pedro Pereira, has filed an appeal against the suspended three‑year‑and‑six‑month sentence handed to PSP officer Bruno Pinto for fatally shooting 43‑year‑old Cape Verdean cook Odair Moniz during a police operation in Lisbon in October 2024. Pereira argues that Pinto acted with direct intent to kill, rejects any claim of legitimate defence, and calls for an effective prison term of at least eight years and the officer’s expulsion from the Police of Public Security.

The appeal notes that Moniz was shot twice, the second bullet fired after he was already wounded and unable to resist, describing the act as “cold, calculated and purely punitive.” The original court had found no knife was proven and rejected the defence’s claim of self‑defence, yet allowed Pinto to return to duty. The case is now before the Lisbon Court of Appeal and has sparked street protests and online criticism of the police force.