Argued from the Football Leaks case, he claimed health reasons, given the worsening of the pandemic situation on national soil.
Football Leaks creator Rui Pinto on Thursday refused to take off his protective mask when asked by the court to be identified by a witness, citing health reasons in the face of the worsening covid-19 pandemic.
The 32nd session of the trial, which takes place at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, was exclusively filled with the video conference hearing of the former Hungarian landlord Balint Bozo, who confirmed that Rui Pinto rented a room in an apartment in Budapest between 2015 and 2016, describing him as “a young guy, good person and Portuguese”.
The Football Leaks creator was then asked to approach the computer where the videoconference was being held so that the witness could identify him. In view of the difficulties expressed in recognizing Rui Pinto with the mask, the judges asked the defendant to remove the mask, something that the 32-year-old and lawyer Luísa Teixeira da Mota refused, invoking the fear of a possible infection with the new coronavirus.
The panel of judges and the other lawyers present in the courtroom got up from their seats and moved away so that Rui Pinto could remove the mask from a safe distance, but even so the main defendant in the process did not withdraw his mask.
The judges then ended up using a photograph of the creator of the electronic platform used in a press article to show the witness, with the latter confirming that it was Rui Pinto. The defendant himself – who today was wearing two masks at the same time – confirmed that it was a photograph of himself, so that there was no doubt.
Balint Bozo added that Rui Pinto ended up leaving the room of the apartment he shared with other people after about a year to go live alone to another house, adding that the room was inspected by the police authorities in 2019, when procedures that led to the youth’s arrest.
The next session of the trial is now scheduled for Tuesday, at 9:30 am, with the hearing of the former head of the Doyen investment fund’s computer system, Jake Hockley.
Rui Pinto, 32, 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, PLMJ law firm, the Portuguese Federation of Football (FPF) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), and also for computer sabotage to Sporting’s SAD and for extortion, in the attempted form. This last crime concerns Doyen and was also what led to the pronunciation of the lawyer Aníbal Pinto.
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