José Alberto Azeredo Lopes

José Alberto de Azeredo Lopes (born 20 June 1961)^[3] is a Portuguese politician who served as Minister of National Defence from November 2015^[1] to October 2018.

José Alberto de Azeredo Lopes
Minister of National Defence
In office 26 November 2015[1] – 15 October 2018
Prime Minister	António Costa
Preceded by	José Pedro Aguiar-Branco[2]
Succeeded by	João Gomes Cravinho
Personal details
Born	20 June 1961 Porto, Portugal[1]

Azeredo Lopes previously served as the president of the Regulatory Authority for the Media and was a law professor at the Catholic University of Portugal.^[4] He announced his resignation as National Defence Minister on 12 October 2018 amid an investigation into a theft of weapons from a military base,^[3] and was succeeded by João Gomes Cravinho on 15 October 2018.^[5] In 2019, he was brought to trial over his alleged role in a suspected army cover-up of a theft of grenades, anti-tank rockets, other explosives and ammunition from a military arms depot in 2017; he himself has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.^[6]