The recordings of telephone conversations and SMS messages between former prime minister, José Sócrates, Armando Vara and intercepted by police in connection with the Hidden Face , were destroyed on Monday the Court of Aveiro.
The destruction began after lunch by 14:00, and held the office of Raul Lamb, the presiding judge of the collective that Friday sentenced the 36 defendants in the case. To this end, Raul Lamb used an “x-acto, a scissors and a shredder,” explained PUBLIC presiding judge of the district of Aveiro, Paulo Brandão.
The five 26 posts and conversations in question were recorded on four DVDs and four CDs. Were the only recordings that escaped the order of then-president of the Supreme Court, Noronha birth to them destroyed all records of interceptions that included the former prime minister.
The elimination of the recordings took But more than expected and only ended by 18:20. According to Paulo Brandão, files interceptions were to eliminate from DVDs which were also included tapping the other defendants who needed saving. “This is being done carefully.’re Selecting eavesdropping which is to maintain and record them on other DVD” justified at the time magistrate.
During the investigation of the <> Skin Hides, 11 conversations between Socrates and former Socialist minister Armando Vara were intercepted. The then Attorney General of the Republic, Pinto Monteiro, considered that the content was personal and had no criminal relevance. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) at the time, Noronha Nascimento, agreed and decreed its nothingness and its destruction in 2010 What was fulfilled. The law requires that the telephone tapping a prime minister be authorized by the STJ. His decision, however, still causes some controversy. The lawyers in the process contradict the decision of Birth Noronha.
Unlike Pinto Monteiro, the holder of the proxy research, João Marques Vidal, considered that the contents of interceptions also indicated a crime of attack on the rule of law. Concerned would be an attempt to control the media in Portugal and Socrates was at the center of suspicion.
Only when the process was to Lisbon, where his instruction took place, was detected by destroying recordings still exist. “It turned out that there were duplicate recordings left over. The system will automatically recordings done. At that time the President of the STJ was out of the country and the process went then to the investigation stage, “said Paulo Brandão.
At that time, however, the judge of the Central Criminal Instruction Court of Lisbon, Carlos Alexander refused to destroy the bugs. The magistrate, to whom was entrusted the process, decided to first notify the defendants and assistants of the decision before the Supreme Court to eliminate the bugs. Armando Vara and Paul Boulders argued that wiretaps were important to his defense.
The process eventually returned to Aveiro for judgment, yet with the bugs destroy. And their DVD continued until this Monday in the Court of Aveiro safe. The judges refused Friday to order the defendants that were not destroyed eavesdropping Sócrates, recalling the limits of the rule of law in gathering evidence during the reading of the judgment in Case Hidden Face . Lamb Raul Armando Vara recalled even Socrates could have called as a witness without the need to use wiretaps. For the judge, the same has not even formally existed for the prosecution or for the accused.
Paulo Brandão could not explain, however, why the recordings were kept in the court safe. The judges chose to destroy the bugs after being read the judgment in Case Hidden Face .
It is true that many lawyers have in the process jeopardized the destruction of eavesdropping and invoked its nullity. Incidentally, the process continues to run the risk of ending up nullified thereby.
Ricardo Sá Fernandes attorney Paul Boulders, again criticized the last Friday of the action Noronha Nascimento. Considers that the judge could not have decided on a process that was not entrusted to him.
news updated at 19.15. The president of the District of Aveiro, Paulo Brandão, had advanced to the PUBLIC that the DVD and CD would also be destroyed using a pliers. Later, after all, the judge used a paper shredder that also allows the destruction of these brackets.
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