José Júlio da Costa

José Júlio da Costa (14 October 1893, Garvão – 16 March 1946, Lisbon) was a Portuguese left-wing political activist who assassinated President Sidónio Pais of Portugal on 14 December 1918.

Early life José Júlio da Costa was the second of seven children of Eduardo Brito Júlio and Maria Gertrudes Júlio. He grew up in a family of landowners that was considered wealthy. At the time of his arrest, he was married to Maria do Rosário Costa Pereira but had no children.

Military service On 21 May 1910, at the age of 16, José enlisted as a volunteer in the Portuguese Army. He was later placed in the Portuguese colonial army in which took part in actions in Portuguese Timor, Mozambique and Angola. When World war I started in 1914, José tried to enlist as a volunteer to fight in but was refused. In this, José was almost prophetic- the Ditatura Militar dictatorship took power only eight years after Sidónio Pais' death.

Assassination José carefully prepared the assassination of Pais, as a letter written by himself on 12 December indicates. He waited for the President to arrive at the Rossio Station in Lisbon on 14 December 1918. The President arrived in the station but was protected by a number of bodyguards after a previous assassination attempt on 6 December. That, however, could not save the President, who was preparing to embark on the first floor of the station. José drew his pistol which he concealed in his Alentejo cloak and fired two shots at the President.

Aftermath José was imprisoned and tortured by the government. José's mother and wife were arrested and held in the dungeons of the civil government before they were finally released.

José never stood trial for his actions and was locked away for 28 years in a psychiatric hospital in Lisbon in which he was forgotten by the government and fell into obscurity. José died in the hospital on 16 March 1946, at the age of 52.