# Judge Rui da Fonseca E Castro:
## Opening Statement in the Grand Jury Proceeding

Good afternoon.

The legitimacy of the Court of Public Opinion bases on the natural law.

During the last two years we have witnessed the rising[?] collapse of the 
democratic rule of law.  In the name of an idea of ‘common good’, which has 
never been endorsed, the most fundamental rights and freedoms have been 
taken from us and we can already feel the approach of a gigantic wave of 
victims.

Justice systems, once strongholds of fundamental rights and freedoms, no 
longer fulfil their duties.  That is, there are no longer judges in 
Berlin[?].

Shall we wait, do nothing, until we are completely annihilated or, rather,
we assume our responsibilities as members of our communities.

It is our rights and, above all, our duty to the people and to the future 
generations to resist oppression and tyranny.

The natural law immanent to human being, regardless of its participation, 
gives us sacred rights of resistance to oppression.  If constitutions are 
the source of participators fundamental rights and freedoms, natural law is 
its original source.  Natural law confers legitimacy to the people to 
defend fundamental rights and freedoms before a state that has become 
tyrannical.

It’s clear now, the failure of national and international justice systems 
to protect people from the tyranny that has taken hold.  Therefore, it’s in 
the natural law and unwritten law inherent to the human condition that this 
Court of Public Opinion finds it’s legitimacy to initiate legal proceedings 
that will begin today.

The court is open.