The collective of judges of the verdict of the trial of disclosure of Benfica’s emails in Porto Canal has scheduled for this Wednesday, March 27, the reading of the verdict, hearing scheduled at 2 p.m., at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon.
The email disclosure case dates back to 2017 and 2018, with communication between elements related to Benfica’s structure and third parties that will be revealed in the Universo Porto program – from the bank, from Porto Canal, and has three defendants: Francisco J. Marques, Diogo Faria and Julio Magalhães.
During this Wednesday’s hearing, the last one devoted to accusations, the defense of Francisco J. Marques stated that FC Porto’s communications director issued emails from Benfica under the public interest and questioned the legitimacy of the “incarnates” to create a to file a complaint about the case.
Lawyer Nuno Brandão asked for his constituent’s acquittal, considering that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) “had no legitimacy” to launch an investigation based on an illegal complaint.
Nuno Brandão argued that “the offended can only be the people who own the email accounts”, adding: “It would be the individual people who would have legitimacy to file a complaint for unlawful access to their email boxes, they had six months to do this. so and not made”.
“Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Benfica SAD and Benfica Estádio filed a complaint, which were not the offended parties”said.
After arguing that the defendants “received the emails after they had been exfiltrated and made them public, without having direct access to them”, the lawyer again invoked the “public interest” of the content of the emails .
“Every citizen has the right to inform”, said, adding: “It is incomprehensible that there is no public interest in the emails”.
The defender of Francisco J. Marques on Tuesday refuted the Benfica representative’s argument that the defendants were motivated by interests related to FC Porto.
“If we have a club that behaves badly, that wants to win without adhering to the regulations, and of course makes several victims, FC Porto is one of them,” he argued.
Nuno Brandão also questioned the argument that “if the defendants were concerned for the public interest, they would have handed over the emails to the authorities”, as the aides in the trial wanted the emails “buried”.
“If the defendants had handed over the emails to the authorities, Benfica would say they could not be used because their origin was illegal”he said.
The lawyer also refuted the allegations of the assistants highlighting the “lack of remorse of the defendants”, and returned to speak about the defendants’ conviction of the public interest of the content.
“Repentance cannot be measured and the court is not a body for the purification of souls,” he said.
At the beginning of his accusations Nuno Brandão stated that the “arguidos are in a vulnerable position”recalling that Benfica judges were involved at various stages of the trial.
On Tuesday, the MP sought the conviction of Francisco J. Marques, for three crimes for breach of non-consensual correspondence, in publishing Benfica’s emails on Porto Canal, but left the verdict “for the consideration of the court”. given “lack of a criminal record” of the suspect.
With regard to the defendant Diogo Faria, content director of the channel ‘Dragões’, the prosecution believed that he had helped Francisco J. Marques, but defended that “the court will nuance the facts”.
The MP’s representative left a possible conviction of Júlio Magalhães, former director of Porto Canal, “to the court”, arguing that he had “never participated directly in the direct content of the program, never had prior knowledge of the e -mails and not participate in their selection”.
Francisco J. Marques, who published the contents of Benfica’s emails on the program ‘Universo Porto — da Bancada’, on Porto Canal, is charged with three crimes of breach of correspondence or telecommunications, three crimes of gross breach of correspondence or telecommunications, in apparent concurrence with three crimes of invasion of privacy and one crime of unauthorized access.
FC Porto’s communications director is also responsible for five serious crimes against a legal person and one crime against a legal person, aggravated by a private accusation.
Diogo Faria is charged with a crime of breach of correspondence or telecommunications and a crime of unauthorized access, in addition to a crime against a corporate entity aggravated by a private accusation.
Finally, Júlio Magalhães is charged by the public prosecutor with three serious offenses of violation of correspondence or telecommunications, apparently coinciding with three offenses of invasion of private life, as well as five serious offenses against a legal person.
Source: DN
