The man, the Portuguese state to be violence at any cost, has left the prison cell again – for now, at least. A recent photo shows Rui Pinto and his three lawyers (with William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, two Frenchmen, and the Hungarian David Deak) in the evening for dinner, the wine glasses are almost empty, in the Background, a football game is in progress.
Nous étions à Budapest avec William Bourdon pour préparer, avec notre Confrère hongrois David Deak, la défense de Rui Pinto, lanceur d’alerte qui a participé au #football leaks et qui est soutenu par @TheSignalsNetw. pic.twitter.com/L7z33AZ8j3
— Vincent BRENGARTH (@v_brengarth) 23. January 2019
The picture shows from left to right, William Bourdon, Rui Pinto, David Deak and Vincent Brengarth.
Pinto Wednesday was last week in Budapest arrested; now he stands up to a decision on his extradition to Portugal under house arrest.
The 30-Year-old and his legal representatives have made an important decision – Pinto was outed today as a Whistleblower disclosure platform, Football Leaks : “Rui Pinto, John,” says his lawyer William Bourdon in an Interview with the “mirror” and the Research network of the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC).
John was the Pseudonym, under the Pinto in the Public and the journalists of the EIC consortium had occurred. Only “mirror”Journalist, Rafael Buschmann had had direct contact with him.
According to attorney Bourdon, it was Rui Pinto, had plays the “mirror” more than 70 million documents from the inner life of the world football. The German news magazine, had shared the data with the EIC, whose partners include the Recherchedesk of Tamedia .
the criminal proceedings in Switzerland
The revelations had triggered in the football world since the end of 2015, earthquake to earthquake. Top players have been exposed as tax tricksters, Topclubs saw Fake sponsorship contracts to light dragged, Paris Saint-Germain a racist Scouting System turned up, the club apologized immediately.
In a number of countries are run because of Football Leaks criminal proceedings, in Switzerland: An extraordinary Prosecutor is investigating whether a Valais Prosecutor of Fifa President Gianni Infantino wrong to receive regular benefits. Rui Pinto’s lawyer Bourdon said he stand with the special investigators Damian count in contact. Non denied the request. In other countries prosecutors are not interested in the Material.
Or are you already on. Almost at the same time with Pinto’s arrest on Tuesday in Madrid überfuss shooting Cristiano Ronaldo for tax evasion before the court – this process is also the result of Football Leaks. Ronaldo received a conditional jail sentence of two years and must pay to the Treasury of 18.8 million Euro.
“Pintos criminalization is artificially inflated.”William Bourdon, lawyer
Rui Pinto’s fate, however, is open. The Portuguese authorities accuse him of data theft and attempted extortion. Particularly serious is the accusation weighs, Pinto asked a Portuguese sports Agency money, otherwise, he is damning internal documents would be published.
William Bourdon rejects these accusations and speaks of a “childish prank”: Pinto wanted to test how far the Agency would go. His client had taken at the end of the Plan. Money has never flowed: “Pintos criminalization is artificially inflated.”
The lawyers want to rely on Pinto’s Status as a Whistleblower to prevent his extradition. Exceptional is that the taken 30-Year-old differently than earlier Whistleblower documents from an organization for which he worked. He external was standing. A Football Fan.
At the beginning of the love for soccer
For William Bourdon does not change the thing: Pinto meet all the conditions for whistleblowers established by the European court of human rights. “I think it is a historical, Europe-wide, unprecedented case,” says the lawyer who defended earlier NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden .
The Hungarian authorities seized Pinto hard drives and Computer. On the question of whether his client is the Football-Leaks documents through Hacking, don’t want to answer the lawyer: “I can’t explain how he got the documents. The Only thing I can say is that at the beginning of the story, the love of the football .” This had been hurt by what he had discovered.
“It’s a Domino effect: The more access he had to documents, the more indignant and more disgusted he was,” says Bourdon. Pinto, however, is only a “part” of Football Leaks: There is, of course, still other sources.
(editing Tamedia)
Created: 25.01.2019, 14:00 Uhr
