The perpetrator of the attacks that caused the death of Portuguese-Cabo Verdean Ademir Araújo Moreno in March last year on the island of Faial is to stand trial for qualified homicide motivated by racial hatred, an order that came from the Horta Criminal Investigation Court according to the Diário de Notícias newspaper and also reported by Correio dos Açores.
“Everything indicates that the defendant acted out of racial hatred, with total contempt for the human life of those who do not share his skin color,” reads the Horta Criminal Investigation Court’s indictment, dated March 30, which determines that AP, 24, currently under house arrest, is to stand trial for the crimes of injury to physical integrity and murder – both aggravated by the motivation of racial hatred and a futile or torpid motive – which killed 49-year-old Portuguese-Cabo Verdean Ademir Araújo Moreno on March 18 last year in the city of Faial.
The penalty for the first crime is up to four years; for the second, it is 12 to 25 years. The perpetrator, 23 years old at the time of the events, 1.80 meters tall and weighing around 100 kg, assaulted Ademir Moreno twice outside a nightclub on the morning of Sunday, March 17, 2024, following a fight between young girls, one of whom was his (the defendant’s) girlfriend.
A fight in which, according to witnesses, Ademir, together with other people, intervened to stop it, holding one of the disputants – AP’s girlfriend.

While in the first assault, Ademir managed to defend himself by putting his hands in front of his face, in the second, which was perpetrated by the defendant when the victim wasn’t looking, a blow to his left temple caused him to fall helplessly, hitting the back of his head on the sidewalk and suffering brain damage that caused his death the following day, reports DN.
Before the attacks, AP, who hadn’t met Ademir beforehand, had, according to several witnesses quoted in the indictment, said: “I’m not afraid of black people, anyone can come!” and “I’m not afraid of black people at all!”.
It is above all these phrases that for the indictment, signed by Judge Beatriz de Correia de Sousa and to which DN has had access, substantiate the motivation of racial hatred: “This is clear from the expressions uttered by the defendant before acting on both occasions, whose adjectives appear to be a manifestation of an alleged and perceived superiority over the victim, placing the latter on a (supposed) lower civilizational, intellectual and/or moral level.” The magistrate also considers that “the defendant acted in a futile manner, to the extent that with his conduct against Ademir Moreno he directed the frustration coming from the altercation involving the defendant’s partner, made public (…)”. And he explains: “For the offenses to be qualified by any torpid or futile motive means that the motive for the action, evaluated according to the ethical and moral conceptions anchored in the community, must be considered heavily repugnant, low or gratuitous, vile motive, abject, revealing low character, repugnant, ignoble, clearly revealing, of deep contempt for human life (… ), translating intolerant, overbearing, petty selfishness, which goes as far as moral insensitivity; whereas acting out of racial hatred consists of a mental attitude of deep aversion towards others, whom the agent does not recognize as people worthy of rights, by virtue of their race, which includes color, descent and national or ethnic origin (…). ”

in Correio dos Açores-Natalino Vivierios, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.