Boavista president Vitor Murta has appealed the conviction for sexual harassment against an employee of the SAD football club of the First League, the director said this Friday, denying the charges in question.
“It must be stressed that the decision, which is currently being appealed, condemns the former chairman of the board of directors of the SAD for committing an act of discrimination, and not for sexual harassment. Therefore, it is completely untrue that there was any sentence for sexual harassment,” the leader responded in a statement published on the official website of “xadrezados” on the Internet.
According to the ruling published this Friday by the Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), Vítor Murta, who currently leads the Bessa club, was punished with a six-month suspension and a fine of 2,448 euros for “discriminatory behavior” following a disciplinary process that began on October 3, 2023, when he was still in charge of SAD in Boavista.
“It should be clarified that the court hearing, including the questioning of witnesses, took place last Friday morning. [em 9 de agosto]and that the decision, more than 40 pages long, was handed down a few hours later. The speed is astonishing and shows that, whatever the defense may present, the guilty verdict is already prepared,” he said.
The violations in question are Article 137 of the Disciplinary Regulations of the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), which punishes “directors who commit conduct that is degrading to human dignity based on race, colour, language, religion, ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation.”
“There is no evidence in the case at hand that could support a conviction, as this is a genuine legal aberration. Several witnesses were heard who denied the alleged facts,” he ruled.
The FPF CD described the leader’s conduct as “effectively discriminatory” on the basis of gender and “substantiated a pattern of what is commonly referred to as harassment, including sexual harassment.”
“The comfort of my innocence makes me fight for justice, using all the legal means at my disposal to combat this set of lies, untruths and slanders,” said Vitor Murta, who ended his nearly four-year presidential term for the SAD in Boavista in May.
In a statement, the administration of the “checkered” football management company, headed by Senegalese Fary Faye, vehemently denied the facts reported by the federal disciplinary body and promised to take the necessary measures, hoping that “everyone, without exception, will fully assume their responsibilities.”
“This anonymous complaint represents a clear strategic objective, since it was formulated just a few months before the end of his term as president of the SAD Board of Directors and just as close to the end of his term as president of the club,” responded Vítor Murta, whose second term at the helm of Boavista ends at the end of the year.
The decision is subject to appeal to the FPF Justice Council or the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), based on the facts that occurred between September 2019 and mid-November 2022, when, according to the CAS, the club president had the Bessa emblem. “adopted, in particular through rude expressions and hints, inconvenient behavior that disturbed the offended party, who was still quite young at the time of the events.”
“This is a stigma that will remain indelible in my life, despite my absolute certainty that the decision will be overturned on appeal. However, for those who think that I will no longer pay attention to what is happening to Boavista because of anonymous complaints, I want to make it clear that they are completely wrong,” he concluded.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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