All the male defendants have been sentenced to prison. Judgment day in Lisbon on a child sexual abuse scandal that has riveted Portugal; a scandal so disturbing that the Portuguese president at the time called it a national disgrace.
It started at the Casa Pia, a centuries-old state-run institution for orphans and the needy in Lisbon. At the time there were several thousand young people in its care.
But dozens of them had dark secrets, alleging they had been raped and sexually abused, and they started telling authorities a decade ago.
The trial started six years ago. Seven defendants, including a former Portuguese ambassador and a former driver at the school, faced hundreds of charges. Three judges on Friday issued guilty verdicts for all six men but acquitted the lone woman.
One of the defendants, Carlos Cruz, was perhaps the best-known defendant from his years as a popular Portuguese television show host. He was surrounded by reporters as he entered the courtroom.
"I just want to arrive on time," he told them.
News media quoted him as calling the verdict a "monstrous judicial mistake" based on a vendetta of lies against him.
Pedro Namora, a lawyer now who says he was a sexual abuse victim then as a boy at the Casa Pia, saw it differently. He was among the few victims who, to this day, have dared reveal their identities.
"I hope this day will show that the boys have told the truth from the start," he told reporters.
A truth that has been painful to accept for the boys, and for all of Portugal.
