António de Almeida Santos, Portuguese lawyer and politician, Died at 89

  Politician

António de Almeida Santos was born on February 15, 1926, and died on January 18, 2016.
He was a Portuguese lawyer, politician, parliamentary and minister.
António received the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty and in 2003 was awarded the North-South Prize.
Mr. Santos was a jurist who graduated as a Licentiate in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra in 1950.
In 1952, António went to Lourenço Marques, Overseas Province of Mozambique (now Maputo, Mozambique) where he was a lawyer from 1953 to 1974 and a Member of the Group of Democrats of Mozambique.
During the year of 25 de Abril revolution in Portugal, António returned to Lisbon.
As an Independent, António was Minister of the Interterritorial Coordination in the first four Provisional Governments, of the Social Communication in the 6th, and Minister of Justice in the 1st Constitutional Government of Mário Soares.
In those functions, António entered the Socialist Party (PS) in its 2nd Congress.
In the 2nd Constitutional Government Santos was the Adjoint Minister to the Prime Minister of Portugal Mário Soares and in the 6th Constitutional Government, he was Minister of State and of Parliamentary Affairs.
Santos was also the President of the Parliamentary Group of PS between 16 October 1992 and 10 November 1993, and the President of PS in 1992 and reelected in 1994.
António was elected the 10th President of the Assembly of the Republic in the 7th and 8th Legislatures (31 October 1995 – 4 April 2002).
He was also a Member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1985 until his death, as the President of the Assembly of the Republic from 31 October 1995 to 4 April 2002, and from then on as a Member elected by the Assembly of the Republic.
He was married, with whom one of his daughters died of a drug overdose, which led to his becoming a crusader in the fight against drugs.
Santos defended drug legalization.
One of Santos grandsons were Edmundo Vieira, who was a contestant at the Portuguese Operação Triunfo.
António de Almeida Santos passed away at 89 yrs old.