“The denunciation report” was sent to the Superior Council of Judicial Magistrates (CSMJ) by the public prosecutor’s office, “the content of which relates to allegations of a possible involvement of the president of the STJ, [Silva Gomes Cravid] with a teenage girl, a fact that occurred around 20 years ago,” the statement reads.
The Superior Council of Judicial Magistrates, which is the highest management and disciplinary body of the judiciary, analysed the matter on 11 and 15 April at a meeting attended by all members, with the exception of the president of the STJ, who is inherently the president of the CSMJ.
The communiqué states that the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) decided to “proceed with the distribution of the complaint from the public prosecutor’s office” and to “initiate an inquiry with a view to ascertaining whether or not there are facts that could constitute a disciplinary offence”.
It emphasises that the decisions were taken by majority vote, with the judge counsellor, Leonel Pinheiro, voting against the two points “as he considered that there were no grounds for either distributing the case or opening the inquiry”, and the representative of the Parliament, Adalberto Catambi, voting against the decision “to open disciplinary proceedings on point two”.
The president of the STJ, Silva Cravid, has been denounced on social media by jurist and former first instance judge Augério Amado Vaz, who accuses him of having been involved with a minor about 20 years ago and with another in 2021.
According to Amado Vaz, the teenager was the victim of rape and Silva Cravid became involved with the minor after having intervened in the case that led to the conviction of the perpetrator around 20 years ago.
The alleged victim, now 36, confirmed that she had a “long relationship” with Silva Cravid, but denied that this happened when she was a minor.
“I had a 10-year relationship with Mr Silva Gomes Cravid, at the time I was of age, I was already 18. We’re talking about something that happened more than 18 years ago, I’m 36 years old today,” declared Kátia Monteiro during a live chat on Facebook last week.
“I was raped when I was a teenager (…), it wasn’t Mr Silva Cravid who passed judgement on the man, it was another judge. Mr Silva Cravid simply carried out the first questioning. After a few years, Mr Silva Gomes Cravid and I had a relationship, yes, everyone knows that,” said Kátia Monteiro.
Silva Cravid also denied the alleged sexual involvement with minors and filed a criminal complaint against Augério Amado Vaz and RDP Africa correspondent Óscar Medeiros for defamation and slander.
“Such information is false, unfounded, with the sole and exclusive intention of defaming, offending and denigrating the image of the president of the Supreme Court of Justice,” declared the director of the office of the president of the STJ, Leonardo Gomes, in an audio sent by Silva Cravid to Lusa, without responding to a request for an interview.
However, Augério Amado Vaz said that he is not withdrawing his denunciation and that he is prepared to present evidence when called upon by the public prosecutor’s office.
On Friday, the President of São Tomé and Principe, Carlos Vila Nova, said that the situation “has been very disturbing for society”, which is why he argued that it should be investigated.
“The truth is that it’s not pleasant what’s going on, but it’s also true that the information we have needs to be confirmed. The investigating authorities need to be able to carry out this investigation,” said Carlos Vila Nova.
The São Toméan President will convene the Council of State on Thursday to reflect on the general state of the justice system.
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