Lisbon - Former Portuguese labour minister Paulo Pedroso has won damages worth 100,000 euros (145,000 dollars) for having been jailed preventatively in connection with a paedophilia scandal, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Pedroso was jailed for nearly five months in 2003 on 23 counts of child abuse. An investigating judge later deemed the evidence inconclusive and shelved the case against the Socialist politician.

A Lisbon court said the detention of Pedroso had been a "gross error," granting him financial compensation for moral damage and judicial negligence.

More than 100 children are believed to have been abused at state-owned Casa Pia children's homes in the 1980s and 90s. The trial of several accused continues. (dpa)