The judgment in the case of the Benfica emails was known this Monday, at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon.
Francisco J. Marques (FC Porto communication director) was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison and Diogo Faria (content director) to nine months in prison, both cases with suspended sentence. Both are condemned to pay 10 thousand euros, jointly, to Luís Filipe Vieira, who became an assistant in the process. Júlio Magalhães (former director of Porto Canal) was acquitted – «The court understands that Júlio had no capacity to prevent this disclosure. Crime of undue access does not occur», said judge Nuno Costa.
FC Porto’s director of communication was punished with 10 months in prison for violating aggravated correspondence or telecommunications, and another year and two months for offense against a legal person; he was given a legal sentence of one year and 10 months, with a suspended sentence for the same period. The content director was sentenced to nine months, with a suspended sentence for one year, for violation of correspondence or telecommunications.
The court says that those responsible for communication at FC Porto “truncated, built narratives with untruths” and damaged Benfica’s good name, according to the judgment that was explained by the judge: “At stake is the crime of violating telecommunications. And the conduct of the defendant Francisco Marques in disclosing the emails in question fulfills this type of crime. The defendant did what is called manipulation of information.”
In March, the judge announced that crimes of violation of correspondence and telecommunications had been aggravated, mainly in the case of Diogo Faria, which led to postponing the reading of the judgment until May, when it was postponed once again.
In 2017, FC Porto’s director of communication disclosed, live on Porto Canal, electronic correspondence exchanged between Benfica leaders.
The Public Ministry asked for the conviction of Francisco J. Marques, Diogo Faria and Júlio Magalhães.
Benfica’s lawyers, Rui Patrício and João Medeiros, were the first to react, with Medeiros leaving a decision on an appeal for later: “It was recognized that there was manipulation of information, there was a lie and unjustified behavior. Rivalry is healthy, but it cannot be at all costs.»
Nuno Brandão, lawyer for Francisco J. Marques, announced an appeal: “The accusations fell in the large majority, they were inflated. The veracity of the contents of the emails was recognized, which were disclosed without adulterations. We will appeal, we do not agree, and we will certainly also have an appeal from the Public Ministry and Benfica»
On compensation to Luís Filipe Vieira]: «We’ll see, we’ll contest it. He has not filed a complaint and is not even offended [é assistente no processo]. The judge only considered that he is injured, we’ll see. »
2023-06-12 18:55:00
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