President of Vizela Municipal Council accused of asphyxiating and assaulting his wife
The Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Victor Hugo Salgado of domestic violence following the reopening of an inquiry that was shelved in 2024. The director of the DIAP in Braga describes serious physical assaults.
Municipal President of Vizela formally accused of domestic violence
The Public Prosecutor's Office has brought a formal accusation against Victor Hugo Salgado, president of Vizela Municipal Council, for the crime of domestic violence, according to Observador. The order was signed by the director of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) in Braga, who assumed the case following a previous decision to shelve it.
In the document, the magistrate describes how Salgado allegedly struck his wife with "multiple punches to the face, particularly to the lip and nasal regions". The municipal official allegedly also "bound [the victim] by the neck and arms, threw her violently against the wall and floor and, placing himself on top of her, compressed her with his body weight, causing temporary asphyxia through compression of the neck and chest regions", according to the accusation text.
The case had been shelved in May of last year by a prosecutor at the DIAP's 2nd Section in Guimarães — one day after the municipal official's wife withdrew her complaint. At the time of shelving, the suspect had not been questioned or formally constituted as a defendant, despite the case containing several official documents with reports of the assaults and injuries described.
When questioned by Observador about that decision, the Attorney General's Office subsequently confirmed the reopening of the inquiry. "It is confirmed that the reopening of the inquiry was ordered with a view to carrying out supplementary investigations", the Attorney General's Office stated to Observador in July 2025.
Victor Hugo Salgado responded publicly, referring to an "instrumentalisation of private life". The PSD, the party to which the municipal official is connected, expressed the hope that the case "is nothing more than a misunderstanding".
Source: Observador