POLICE ACTIVITIES

Meanwhile, in Lisbon, Brother Joaquim Martins, who had been a faithful Witness since 1939, was now a successful businessman, operating several dry-cleaning stores. In February 1964 he had unexpected visitors! P.I.D.E. agents rummaged through everything at his home and shops in an effort to find publications put out by the Society. They confiscated his literature, including a precious library dating back to 1925.

At one of the stores he kept a large tank for use in secret baptisms, and over the years scores of brothers were baptized there. Later Brother Martins sold his business and became a pioneer, dying faithful in 1979.

GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION INTENSIFIES

The authorities were hardening their hearts. During October 1964 an extremely prejudiced bulletin was distributed by the minister of the interior, saying:

“It must be rigorously understood that the sect ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ is not a religious sect, because their purposes are purely material: extinction of the governments, of authorities and of the churches and existing cults in order to prepare the way for the installation of Universal Theocracy. The use of the Bible is nothing more than mere technique of propaganda and defense before the authorities, of a movement with ambitious political objectives [italics theirs].”

Armed with the backing of this government bulletin, police began to organize daily raids on the homes of the brothers throughout the country.

In an effort to clarify our position and with the aid of the U.S. State Department, it was arranged for a foreign delegation of three Witnesses to speak with Dr. Franco Nogueira, then Minister of Foreign Affairs. The foreign delegation, composed of Brothers Philip Rees, Richard Abrahamson and Domenick Piccone, traveled to Lisbon and on February 25, 1965, explained our position of strict neutrality. Dr. Nogueira promised to look into the situation, as he stated there was no apparent reason for denying Jehovah’s Witnesses religious freedom. The only answer received, however, was a steady increase of police interference.

POLICE METHODS

Why many considered Portugal to be a police state can be readily seen in the diversified structure of its law-enforcement agencies. There were Public Security Police (P.S.P.); Republican National Guard (G.N.R.); Military Police (P.M.); Highway Patrol Police (P.V.T.); Judicial Police (P.J.); and the International Police and Defense of the State (P.I.D.E.), which was commonly known as the secret police. Our brothers received harsh treatment from G.N.R. and P.I.D.E. The general public especially feared the P.I.D.E., which relied heavily on a paid informer system. Reportedly, it was modeled after the Nazi Gestapo with the assistance of Gestapo agents during the second world war.

Due to the neutrality of the Witnesses, a number of young brothers received brutal treatment from the hands of the P.I.D.E. Luís António de Silva Canilhas, of Larajeiro, Almada, tells what happened to him after two hours of questioning on July 9, 1965:

“Having shut all the windows and doors, they began striking me on every part of my body. A blow in the stomach knocked me to the floor. Another left me with a black eye. As I was limping on one leg, I couldn’t stand up, so they picked me up by my ears and once again began beating me. These men did not have the appearance of humans as they treated me like a dog.”

Disgraceful treatment was meted out to older people as well. In July a Lisbon overseer, Manuel Vaz, 72 years of age, was summoned to P.I.D.E. headquarters for questioning. For five hours he was rudely insulted and interrogated. “The true religion is the Catholic religion,” said one P.I.D.E. agent to Brother Vaz. “She has preserved the Bible and is following Jesus Christ and the apostles. It is not for you, an ignorant man, to teach the Bible. It is only for those who are authorized. But you would like your religion to be free, wouldn’t you? This will never be! No, never!”

As summer of 1965 approached, some four hundred brothers prepared for the long journey to attend the “Word of Truth” Assembly in Basel, Switzerland. At the last minute the P.I.D.E. decided to interfere with convention plans. Just one day before departure date the police told 50 brothers who had received permission to travel that the authorization was canceled. Much to the chagrin of the police, one busload of brothers had already left. An urgent telephone call to the border was unsuccessful. The bus was well into Spain!

In November 1965, in Rossio ao Sul do Tejo, three police agents converged on a group of 17 brothers assembled for the Watchtower Study, breaking up the meeting and seizing all Bibles and literature. They searched the brothers and took them to the police station amid outbursts of ridicule and defamatory language from a crowd of curious onlookers that now assumed mob characteristics.

That evening the brothers were informed that they would be freed on bail of 2,000 escudos each ($70 U.S.). Only seven could raise this sum. Then police authorities released all except António Manuel Cordeiro and Tiago Jesus da Silva, who were considered the organizers of the meeting. Bail for them was set at 20,000 escudos each ($700 U.S.), an exorbitant sum for the average citizen, whose monthly salary was only 1,700 escudos ($60). They were held incommunicado for several days and then kept in prison three months until the charges were finally dropped.

The same day that the police broke up the meeting at Rossio ao Sul do Tejo, P.I.D.E. agents in the university city of Coimbra visited the local Kingdom Hall. After listening for about twenty minutes, they suspended the meeting; then they confiscated all Bibles and literature put out by the Society. When the overseer requested they be allowed to keep their personal copies of the Bible, the police answered: “No, we cannot allow that. We must take them because your Bibles are underlined, which means those particular references have been given a different interpretation”!

OUTMANEUVERING THE OPPOSERS

If the intensity of police activity was increasing, so was the ingenuity of the brothers in handling these delicate situations. This is illustrated by the experience of a 17-year-old publisher, who relates:

“Because of unavoidable problems I arrived at the Hall 15 minutes late. Immediately I noticed something strange: A man was walking back and forth in front of the Hall. I thought right away that he must be a P.I.D.E. agent. I too began walking back and forth, but in the opposite direction. We passed several times. Finally, after 15 minutes the man approached me and whispered: ‘I had the impression you were one of them, but I see you’re not. You wouldn’t be doing the same thing that I am doing, would you?’ Confidently I answered: ‘Obviously, just excuse me for arriving late.’ He replied: ‘No problem, if you don’t mind, keep an eye on this place while I go and have supper. I’ll be back shortly!’ I answered: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of things.’ After waiting a few minutes I entered the Hall. When I explained to the brothers what had happened, we all left in a hurry!”

KINGDOM HALLS CLOSED

Kingdom Halls all over Portugal were more and more the target of police raids. Valuable equipment was being lost. All efforts to legalize the organization had produced no tangible results. So in 1966 the time came for a realistic appraisal of our circumstances. Various factors indicated that the Kingdom work could be better accomplished by meeting in small groups in private homes. Despite government refusal to give us legal recognition our existence could not be denied.

A SIGNIFICANT COURT TRIAL

In June 1966 a court trial was held in Lisbon’s Plenary Court. The trial, involving 49 members of the Feijó Congregation, captured the attention of all Portugal. The case began a year earlier when police broke up a meeting of some seventy persons in the home of Afonso Mendes and arrested the overseers, Arriaga Cardoso and José Fernandes Lourenço.

After 4 months and 20 days in prison, the two brothers were released on bail. During the time they spent in prison they were denied all reading material, including the Bible, and they were subjected to hours of questioning. The State prepared a court case against the two overseers and 47 other members of the congregation. Bail was set at 2,000 escudos ($70 U.S.) each. The government prepared a 416-page brief. The Witnesses were accused of “a crime against the security of the State.” The accusation added: “They constitute a political movement, coming from various countries with aims of disobedience, agitation and subversion of the popular masses and especially the youths of military age.”

When the day for the trial arrived, brothers from all over the country were on hand to give moral support. A bus was even chartered from Oporto in the north. Police officials had never seen such a sight, with hundreds of Witnesses converging on the courthouse.

Reporting on the incident, Lisbon’s O Século stated: “Whoever arrived yesterday at Largo da Boa Hora [the courthouse square] would have seen a surprising spectacle. . . . The windows around the second and third floors as well as the corridors, of which there are many, were full of people. In the patio people were packed tight. . . . There was no disturbance. It was calculated there were more than two thousand persons present inside and outside the building. It was the first time that so many people had been seen there. They were, in the majority, sympathizers with the accused and their religion.”

Judge António de Almeida Moura lost no time in telling the first defendant, Arriaga Cardoso, that constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship do not apply to such a religion as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Lisbon’s Diário Popular, June 24, 1966, reported his remarks: “There is no liberty for anyone who invents a religion and does what he wants in the name of God or whatever it might be. He has to be subordinate to men who rule things on earth. . . . You are accused of disobedience of a general kind to the laws of the Nation.”

When Brother Cardoso started to pick up his Bible, having in mind reading Romans 13:1 pointing out our need to be in subjection to earthly “superior authorities” when their laws do not conflict with God’s laws (Acts 5:29), the judge quickly interrupted, stating, as the newspaper reported:

“Don’t use the Bible! To you the Bible is what counts; to the court it is the law that counts. The Bible does not govern civil activity. Do not invoke it; each one interprets it his own way and according to his interests. The Bible is not the constitution of the State. The court does not have to accept the Bible as the political constitution of the Portuguese Republic as it is interpreted by some American man.”

On the second day of the trial the defense presented considerable evidence to prove that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not advise or encourage anyone to break a law of any government. At the final session, on July 7, 1966, the defense lawyer, Dr. Vasco de Almeida e Silva, fearlessly exposed the government brief as being void of facts. Forcefully he pointed out that not a shred of evidence had been submitted showing that the Witnesses “constitute a political movement” and encourage “agitation and subversion of the popular masses.”

He concluded his bold defense with a masterful appeal that the court respectfully consider the advice of first-century law teacher, Gamaliel. Quoting him, he looked at the judges and kindly entreated: “Do not meddle with these men, but let them alone, (because, if this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them;) otherwise you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God.”​—Acts 5:38, 39.

The public prosecutor did not produce one witness during the entire three days of the trial, nor did he attempt to cross-examine any defendant or witness for the defense. In fact, he had only spoken once during the trial, and now, at the conclusion, his only words were: “I ask for justice.”

Two days later the Plenary Court sentenced all 49 Witnesses to prison terms ranging from 45 days to five and a half months. Portuguese lawyers called the trial “a mockery,” “a sham,” a “miscarriage of justice.” Although the decision was immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, it seemed clearer than ever that the battle for true worship lay ahead.

A NEED FOR CAUTION

No sooner had the trial ended than it was time to leave for France to attend the “God’s Sons of Liberty” District Assembly. The animosity of the authorities against the Witnesses once more came to the surface. This time some one hundred and fifty brothers had their request for collective passports denied just as they were preparing to make the journey.

An interesting experience in relation to the 1966 convention in France shows how protection sometimes comes in remarkable ways. The branch overseer, Paul Hundertmark, had written by memo to the Paris branch, explaining his travel arrangements by plane. He intended to take some important documents out of the country with him. Since the branch address was secret he used Manuel Almeida’s address as the sender. Shortly afterward the P.I.D.E. raided Manuel’s home and searched it for literature, without success. The police inspector threatened Manuel with the loss of his job unless he revealed where the literature was hidden. To back it up he asked him for his employer’s address and wrote it down on a piece of paper he had in his hand. In the course of the search the inspector left the paper on the table. Later, when he left the house, he forgot his note. Manuel quickly retrieved it and saw, on the reverse side, a strange message that simply said: “Correspondence. L. Pontes, Paris.” It meant nothing to him.

A few days later Brother Hundertmark visited him and Manuel showed him the paper. He immediately knew what it meant! The P.I.D.E. had intercepted his anonymous memo to the Paris branch overseer, L. Jontes (they had misspelled it), and they obviously knew all his travel plans to get to Paris. Needless to say, he canceled his trip to the convention, and both the branch overseer and confidential documents were safe once again.

The Lisbon newspaper Diário da Manha, of July 14, 1966, published a front-page story that truly alerted the brothers and taught them a valuable lesson. Somehow a confidential letter giving instructions on traveling to the district convention in France fell into the hands of the authorities, its entire contents being published in the newspaper.