Braga, Famalicão and Guimarães courts need urgent works as promised projects stall

The courts in Braga, Famalicão and Guimarães require urgent building works, while the long-promised construction projects for the Cradle City and for the municipality of Braga continue to make no progress. In Guimarães, the planned justice campus does not even have an architectural design yet, despite having been promised for more than eight years and despite the City Council having already provided land for the facility.

As presiding judge Filipa Afonso Aguiar sets out in the 2025 annual report, the properties serving the Braga Judicial District are steadily deteriorating. She notes that, at the Ministry of Justice, "for a long time there has been a procedure for the construction of a new Palace of Justice to accommodate the courts currently housed in the rented building in Creixomil (so that it can be decommissioned for these functions), the Labour Court (installed elsewhere) and, as far as possible, the services operating from the building in Condessa Mumadona Square". She adds that the City Council of Guimarães has long since made a plot of land available for this purpose; however, "after a further year has passed, the procedure is not even at the architectural design stage".

They will be without premises within two years

In Braga, the most immediate concern is the water ingress that needs urgent attention. In Guimarães, she highlights both the need for refurbishment works and the need to move decisively towards building the promised justice campus. The Famalicão court building also requires investment to protect and maintain the property.

In more detail, she explains that in Braga the leaks worsened after a harsh winter, making it essential to address the issue, including work to the roof and the installation of new waterproof membranes. The presiding judge also recalls that the Ministry of Justice is currently running the procedure to expand the Palace of Justice so it can accommodate the Labour Court and the Family and Children Court.

The lease on the building where the Labour Court is based has been terminated for 2028. In other words, there is less than two years before it will be left without premises. The Family and Children Court has been operating from temporary accommodation since 2021. "The architectural project, which should have been completed in 2025, was not; it is hoped that this year there will be developments and that it will be possible to predict when the works will begin", she laments.

Filipa Afonso Aguiar stresses that the proposed "layout" put forward by the Institute for Financial Management and Justice Equipment (IGFEJ) has been approved, and she reiterates the urgency of the works because "the Labour Court remains in a cramped building, with no space for a second courtroom, nor an examination room for medical assessments that is suitable for its purpose".

No access for stretchers

She further points out that the premises do not provide accessibility for people with reduced mobility, even though "it is very common for injured claimants to be brought on stretchers or in wheelchairs to the labour courts and to the medical boards". For that reason, she argues that "a solution should be found within the city’s public building stock".

In Guimarães, the current Palace of Justice is still waiting for the refurbishment works that would create an additional courtroom-something the district has been requesting since January 2015. Meanwhile, the Famalicão court needs conservation works to "minimise the pace of its degradation". Last year, contracts were put in place to clean the roof, refit broken and loose slabs, and clear the downpipes; a system was also installed to deter pigeons that have proliferated on the roof.

Construction of central criminal courts

The Braga District report argues for the creation of central criminal courts and criminal investigation courts in Famalicão, maintaining that an investigation court has long been an urgent necessity. "In drug trafficking crimes, even though they are investigated in Famalicão, when the intervention of the investigation judge is required, the case files move ежедневно between Famalicão and the courts in Braga or Guimarães", the document states.