Lack of prison facilities in Porto hinders ‘particular difficulty’ trial in Viseu

The lack of funds in the Porto prison to transport the two defendants to the Viseu trial prevented this Wednesday the start of evidence production in a “particularly complex” process involving 17 accused and 133 crimes.

The defendants are charged with skilled fraud, forgery of documents and possession of prohibited weapons (most of them are credited with more than two dozen crimes) in a process involving the acquisition of high-end cars, consisting of about 40 volumes processed and numerous investments.

After a meeting in January at which the identities of the defendants were identified, two weeks ago the start of the production of evidence was postponed because bailiffs from the Central Criminal Court of Viseu joined the strike that began on 15 February.

The panel of judges wanted a non-repeated delay this Wednesday and issued an order on Tuesday stating that a hearing must be held and that all procedural subjects must be prevented to avoid your non-appearance.

As it became known that all bailiffs in the performance of their duties at the Central Criminal Court are on strike, this Wednesday the team issued a new order, emphasizing the need for a court hearing.

In his opinion, there are reasons that outweigh the legal right of court officials to strike, such as the fact that there are 17 defendants, of whom six are in pre-trial detention, with a term ending on 28 November. and others in July and August next year.

In the same order, two more trials are mentioned with the maximum terms of pre-trial detention – December of the current year and August of the next year.

The team considered that, due to their nature, seriousness, number of alleged crimes and defendants in the case, the three cases caused strong social anxiety that could jeopardize the effectiveness of criminal justice.

Despite this second order from this Wednesday, which warned of exceptional circumstances making it urgent and urgent to continue the trial at this time, the hearing ultimately did not take place.

Eight defendants at large and four detainees, their representatives, family members and journalists entered the courtroom, but the presiding judge said that in an email sent at 08:59 this Wednesday, the Porto prison has the means to transport two defendants . .

Considering the absence of these defendants “insurmountable” at the hearing, the start of the proceedings was postponed until the following Friday.

According to the prosecution, since at least October 2019, twelve defendants have developed a plan to deceive people who sell expensive cars (such as Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes) on Internet sites (Olx and Standvirtual).

The defendants suggested to the victims that they were interested in buying vehicles, posing as people with important property and professions in order to take possession of them without payment.

The indictment alleges that the owners of the cars were chosen geographically (Tras os Montes, Leiria, Lisbon, Setúbal, Alentejo, Algarve) in order to monetize the expenses and travel of the defendants, as well as contacts made through mobile phones with prepaid cards.

Having managed to close the deal, they sent the bank transfer confirmation to the victims, which was nothing more than a photomontage of documents similar to those of banking institutions, and before the car owners realized that they had been scammed, the property registration had already been completed changed.

The cars were then sent to Spain, where they were quickly sold through attractive deals to potential buyers and legalized with the registration numbers of that country with the connivance of people associated with this industry.