The decision on the process of disclosing Benfica’s emails on the Porto Channel, whose defendants are Francisco J. Marquez, Diogo Faria and Julio Magalhães, came to light on Monday, after its reading had already been postponed twice.
On March 27, the reading of the verdict was postponed to May 12 due to the aggravation of certain crimes charged against the defendants Francisco J. Marquez and Diogo Faria, which were again postponed to that day without disclosing the reason.
The case of disclosure of emails, the decision of which should be known on Monday at 14:00, in the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, refers to 2017 and 2018, while communication between elements associated with the Benfica structure and third parties must be showed in the Universe Porto – da Bench program from Porto Canal and started judging about six months ago, on September 16, 2022.
In the final allegations, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) Ana Pais requested the conviction of Francisco J. Márquez, PR director of Porto FC, for three crimes of breach of correspondence without consent, but left the punishment “pending a court hearing” given ” lack of a criminal record” of the defendant.
Regarding Diogo Faria, content director of the Dragons channel, which is responsible for crimes related to breach of correspondence or unauthorized access to telecommunications, the prosecutor considered that he helped Francisco J. Marquez, but defended that “the court will make the qualification of the facts” .
The deputy’s spokesman left “up to the court” the possible conviction of Julio Magalhães, the former director of Porto Canal, arguing that he “never took a direct part in the direct content of the program, never knew about the e-mails and did not participate in their selection”.
The defense of the three defendants demanded acquittals, while Francisco J. Marquez’s lawyer cited public interest in the content of the emails and questioned the legality of Benfica’s complaint in this case.
Rui Patricio, Benfica’s lawyer, assistant to the trial, requested that the defendants be convicted, given that they were driven by Porto-related interests, but referred to the fact that Francisco J. Marques, Diogo Faria and Julio Magalhães had “different participation and severity. “just in case.
Lawyers for Luís Filipe Vieira, President of Benfica at the time of the events, and Carlos Deus Pereira, former Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Professional Football League, both aides in the process, also asked for conviction by the defendants.
Francisco J. Marquez is charged with three crimes of breach of correspondence or telecommunications, three crimes of breach of correspondence or aggravated breach of telecommunications, in clear concurrence with three crimes of invasion of privacy, and one crime of unlawful access.
The Director of Public Relations of FC Porto is also responsible for five offenses against a legal entity with aggravated circumstances and one offense against a legal entity aggravated on a private charge.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.