A Lisbon Court Acquits Three Navy Sailors of Breaching State Secrecy Over the NRP Mondego, Finding No Competent Authority Had Classified the Data

Three Navy sailors accused of breaching state secrecy over the NRP Mondego, the patrol ship whose crew refused to sail off Madeira in March 2023, were acquitted on Wednesday, 21 October, by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court, where a military judge sits on the panel. The court called the Ministério Público's (Public Prosecution Service's) charge "imponderada" (ill-considered), Lusa reported.

What the court decided

The presiding judge, Tânia Gomes, said it was not proven that the three meant to pass information to the media, that they aimed to make the ship's technical limits public, or that the interests and security of the State were put at risk, according to Lusa's account, carried by Observador, DN and RTP.

The court did find that two of the three had written documents on the Mondego's onboard computer and that these reached the sergeants' and enlisted sailors' associations. But the information in them had not been "classified by a competent body", the judge said, so it was not covered by state secrecy. Público reported that the military judge agreed with the acquittal.

The defendants, two sergeants and a corporal according to Renascença, faced a single charge after a judge dropped a second one, cowardice, in December 2025. Prosecutors had argued they knew the documents held restricted information on the ship's location, mission and operational limits. Renascença reported a possible sentence of two to eight years in prison.

Defence lawyer Paulo Graça called the ruling one of "notable intellectual honesty". António Garcia Pereira said it showed prosecutors had "always followed behind" the Polícia Judiciária Militar (Military Judicial Police).

What "state secret" means in Portuguese law

The rules are in Lei Orgânica n.º 2/2014, the Regime do Segredo de Estado (State Secrets Regime). It covers material whose disclosure could endanger fundamental interests of the State, such as independence, internal or external security and defence resources. Classification must be a formal, reasoned act by the President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, a Deputy Prime Minister or a minister. Officials such as the armed forces chief may classify provisionally in an emergency, but this lapses unless ratified within 10 days. A classification lasts at most four years before review.

That is the gap the court identified: no competent authority had classified what the sailors sent.

A case with several strands

In March 2023 four sergeants and nine enlisted sailors refused to board the Mondego, citing safety, and the ship missed a mission to shadow a Russian vessel north of Porto Santo. The Navy, then led by Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, suspended them for 10 to 90 days in April 2024. The administrative courts annulled the sanctions on 11 of the 13; the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo (Supreme Administrative Court) confirmed this on 30 April 2025, citing procedural defects. The Navy then reopened the disciplinary case, DN reported in March 2026.

A separate criminal case accuses all 13 of insubordination. Lusa reported it is still at the instrução (pre-trial judicial review) stage; Público said no trial date has been set. Prosecutors say the ship could sail, despite deck cracks, an engine out of action and a faulty cooling pump. In June the trial court fined the Navy chief 816 euros for failing to notify two witnesses in time.

What happens next

Under article 411 of the Código de Processo Penal (Criminal Procedure Code), prosecutors and the defence have 30 days to appeal, counted from the day the written ruling is deposited at the court registry. Any appeal goes to the Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa (Lisbon Court of Appeal). The defence told Renascença in April that the sailors intend to seek compensation from the State. See also our report on the future of the Alfeite shipyard.