André Ventura disclosed the names during a debate in the Assembly of the Republic, while changes to the nationality law were being discussed, at the beginning of July. Rita Matias publicised the names on social media.

“These people are zero Portuguese,” said André Ventura, to a standing ovation from his bench, considering that the immigrant children mentioned were ahead of children of Portuguese nationality on the list to get a place in public school. At the time, the Chega leader said that the list was “public”, but MP Rita Matias later admitted that she had not confirmed the “veracity” of the names.

Following the release of the list, association leaders, political parties and citizens publicly announced that they would file a complaint against the fact that Chega had publicised the names of children of foreign origin attending a Portuguese school.

Following this disclosure, and after several complaints, the National Data Protection Commission announced on 16 July that it had opened an investigation. The organisation, chaired by Paula Meira Lourenço, will assess the case and, if the complaints are upheld as being in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), those affected may have to pay a fine.

André Ventura's reaction

André Ventura revealed that he respects the opening of the investigation into him by the Public Prosecutor's Office and expressed his conviction that it will be closed, as he considers it to be a question of “political freedom”.

At a press conference at Chega's national headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura said that he had not yet been informed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the opening of the enquiry because he had publicised, in the Assembly of the Republic, the names of immigrant children enrolled in a Lisbon school, but he expressed “respect for Portuguese justice”.

“I am confident that we will get to the end and realise that this is a question of political freedom, political action and political discourse,” he said, stressing that in similar cases like this, including those involving him, the courts have concluded that it was “in line with freedom of expression”.

André Ventura said he regretted, however, that justice was “wasting time looking at parliament”, considering that this is time “that could be spent investigating crimes of rape, corruption, money laundering or arsonists.”

The Chega leader said that he still does not know what motivated the opening of the investigation, but said he suspects it was due to complaints from associations or civic movements, considering that a “new way of doing politics is being created, which is to criminalise politicians, to try to make everything they say a crime”, leaving an appeal to these associations.