Aurora Rodrigues

Aurora Rosa Salvador Rodrigues (born 20 January 1952) is a Portuguese retired magistrate of the Public Prosecution Service. Rodrigues studied law at the University of Lisbon. After she attended a student demonstration, the Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE) arrested her. The PIDE deprived Rodrigues of sleep for over two weeks to induce hallucinations, among other forms of torture. She was never formally charged and was released after three months. Rodrigues graduated and became a magistrate and president of the Evorian section of the (Prosecutors' Union). After retiring, she wrote an account of her experiences with the Estado Novo.

Biography Aurora Rodrigues was born in Mértola, Portugal, in the Alentejo Region on 20 January 1952, near the São Domingos Mine. She became a political prisoner during the Estado Novo, or "New State", a dictatorship that controlled Portugal from the 1930s until the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The PIDE deprived political prisoners of sleep to induce hallucinations. She was never given a lawyer, sent to trial, or formally charged with any crime. After the 25 April Carnation Revolution, she returned to Caxias with Arnaldo Matos. Both had been MRPP members.

In 1977, Rodrigues left the MRPP. From 2009 to 2012 she was president of the Evorian section of the (Prosecutors' Union). In 2024, the Portuguese Bar Association selected Rodrigues to receive the Elina Guimarães Award for defending women's rights. The book was endorsed by the and the . It was presented by historian Fernando Rosas.