Benfica are supporting the Public Prosecutor’s Office in an attempt to overturn the decision of the court of first instance.
Benfica will appeal the court decision that led to Rui Pinto’s acquittal in the first instance in the Football Leaks case, according to CNN Portugal .
The club, led by Rui Costa, is thus following the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which had already announced its intention to contest and attempt to overturn, before the Lisbon Court of Appeal, the ruling that acquitted the hacker of all the crimes he was accused of = namely the illegitimate access through computer intrusion to the email accounts of senior officials of the Luz club.
The court of first instance, it should be recalled, considered the accusation invalid and unfounded with regard to the 241 crimes imputed to Rui Pinto .
Rui Pinto has been charged with dozens of crimes, including aggravated unauthorized access, violation of correspondence, and computer damage. The charges stem from his alleged access to emails and documents belonging to Benfica, FC Porto, the Football League, the Tax Authority, and the National Internal Security Network, among other entities.
Rui Pinto was convicted in the Football Leaks case in September 2023 by the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and sentenced to four years in prison with a suspended sentence for similar crimes.
