The lawyer João Medeiros, assistant in the ‘Football Leaks’ case, expressed today, in the third session of the trial, having lived in “constant shock” during the diffusion of emails allegedly intruded by Rui Pinto, creator of the platform.
João Medeiros explained that nine ‘gigas’ of documents were published, corresponding to about 29 thousand emails, dated until December 23, 2018, which contained information regarding several “appetizing” processes at the media level, such as the EDP case , Gold Visas, the case of Secretas / Jorge Silva Carvalho, Operation Marquês – which said that all the volumes he had digitized were leaked -, among others.
“It was a very difficult time. I felt my computer completely ransacked, emails exposed, customers calling to ask what had happened. I, because it was advertised as a ‘dropper’, lived in a constant startle, ”he said, considering that“ these were times of great uncertainty ”and that, even today, he does not feel calm, even admitting to having resorted to the services of a psychologist .
Although the impact of e-mail disclosure did not affect him from the clients’ point of view, João Medeiros stressed that he felt a “great repercussion” in the PLMJ law firm, for which he worked at the time of the facts, which he took “seriously” and where “no means were looked at to deal with the matter in a professional manner”.
“I couldn’t think of anything else, I was permanently in anxiety. It is a feeling that a person is ‘unentailed’, that they have entered our personal and professional life ”, he stressed, saying that his colleagues started to look at him as if“ blaming him for this ”.
The trial, taking place at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, continues on Thursday, with the fourth session, in which the remaining two assistants in the process, Rui Costa Pereira and Inês Almeida Costa, in the morning, and the inspector will be heard of the Judicial Police Miguel Amador, in the afternoon.
Rui Pinto, 31, is responsible for a total of 90 crimes: 68 of undue access, 14 of violation of correspondence, six of illegitimate access, targeting entities such as Sporting, Doyen, the PLMJ law firm, the Portuguese Federation of Football and the Attorney General’s Office, and also for computer sabotage against Sporting’s SAD and for extortion, in the attempted form.
The creator of Football Leaks has been free since August 7, “due to his collaboration” with the Judiciary Police (PJ) and his “critical sense”, but is, for security reasons, inserted in the protection program of witnesses in an undisclosed location and under police protection.
