French lawyer William Bourdon guarantees to have in his possession evidence that the hacker Rui Pinto, his client, proposed the delivery of information to the Portuguese authorities.
“We have evidence that Rui Pinto contacted the Portuguese authorities detailing the information he had in his possession”, accused William Bourdon, this Friday, during a conference that brought together representatives of the various entities that worked with the hacker during the disclosures of the Football Leaks and, more recently, of Luanda Leaks.
To the PUBLIC, the French lawyer – who has already represented whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange – guaranteed that these contacts that were left unanswered by the Portuguese Justice occurred before the revelations of the Football Leaks. The PUBLIC sent a request for clarification to the Attorney General’s Office on these allegations, but, so far, it has not been possible to obtain a response.
Bourdon was the first to speak at this Friday’s conference in Lisbon. The lawyer revealed that he had visited Rui Pinto during the morning, again reinforcing his client’s courage, comparing him to some of the greatest whistleblowers in history: “We believe that the reasons that motivated Rui Pinto are as pure as Snowden’s. He has no interest in money. In the case of Doyen, he participated in a children’s game and tried to see if the investment fund was taking the bait. ”
Despite not having participated in the conference, Ana Gomes exchanged a few words with William Bourdon, Rui Pinto’s lawyer
Rui Gaudêncio / PUBLIC
Arrested since 22 March last year, Rui Pinto is accused of 90 crimes and saw, days ago, his request to be removed from preventive prison refused by the Justice, with the Public Ministry invoking “very high danger of escape” as a arguments to keep the whistleblower in custody.
Francisco Teixeira da Mota, Portuguese lawyer for Rui Pinto, argues that the hacker continues to show readiness to collaborate with the Portuguese authorities. “I have expectations that he will collaborate with the Portuguese authorities. Rui Pinto is open to this ”, he explained in the speech that opened the conference.
“Danger of escape from Rui Pinto? What about Ricardo Salgado? There is not?”
The greatest absentee from the conference was Ana Gomes: the former MEP of the PS was one of the people who would speak at this conference, but a delay in the flight meant that she only arrived at the end of the question and answer session. Subsequently, in statements to the PUBLIC, he commented on the reasons invoked by the Public Ministry to keep Rui Pinto in preventive detention.
“What about Ricardo Salgado? There is not [risco de fuga]? I find it extraordinary that there are all these security precautions regarding a person who exposes criminals and in relation to criminals that all the Portuguese people know, nothing happens. I spoke of Ricardo Salgado, I could speak of many more who are out there on the loose, including law firms that function as authentic criminal organizations ”, says Ana Gomes.
The former MEP says that there are “several Public Ministries”, believing that some members of the institution want the knowledge and data acquired by Rui Pinto to be used in investigations. As for new relations in the Luanda Leaks, Ana Gomes says that the disclosures already made by the consortium of journalists were “the tip of the iceberg”, believing that many of the 715 thousand files made available by Rui Pinto are yet to be revealed.
“Hero of democracy and the people”
One of the media that was part of both scandals (Football Leaks e Luanda Leaks), the French research newspaper Mediapart, was represented by the editor Edwy Plenel. In front of an audience composed mostly of journalists, Edwy did not spare praise for Rui Pinto, appealing to his professional colleagues to unite around the hacker Portuguese: “I want to tell all the journalists here that defending Rui Pinto is defending ourselves. He is a hero of democracy, a hero of the people, who made it possible to know what was hidden. ”
Funding for Rui Pinto’s defense is the responsibility of The Signals Network. This American non-profit organization provides legal assistance to whistleblowers whose information leads to investigations and, in most cases, results in criminal proceedings. Despite not revealing numbers, the executive director, Delphine Halgand-Mishra, revealed that a fundraising campaign was created to finance Rui Pinto’s legal costs. It also revealed that the European authorities have already collected “at least 35 million euros” resulting from the investigations initiated by the hacker.
This conference also included the participation of Henri Thulliez, co-founder of the platform to support African whistleblowers (PPLAAF), who delivered the information received by Rui Pinto to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). On behalf of the latter, Gerard Ryle participated. Stefan Candea, coordinator of the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), who analyzed the documents of the Football Leaks.
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