The defendant who admitted to being wrong, for saying what he...

Filipe Sousa admitted this Tuesday afternoon that he had been wrong to talk about this with his uncle, Valter Abreu and João Paulino, the confessed author of the assault.

When the defendant was arrested, he denied having told Paulino that the storerooms were not safe, and even told Judge João Bártolo that those military facilities were well guarded. Now he says the opposite, and attributes the previous statements to an incorrect strategy by the lawyer who then represented him and who also defended his uncle. “So I dismissed him,” he said in court today.

This contradiction led João Paulino’s lawyer to request the annulment of the first statements of his uncle and nephew.

Filipe Sousa, who is now at GNR says that he did not tell any secrets and that the conditions were visible from the outside. “If it were there at that time, anyone could see the surveillance cameras on the floor, wirelessly, or covered in brambles. There are no secrets.”

According to the Public Ministry, it was Valter Abreu, also known as “wink”, that because of a debt of one thousand euros related to drug trafficking she told João Paulino, the confessed author of the robbery, that Tancos’ lockers were easy to rob and indicated the exact place to enter. “Pisco” obtained the information through his nephew, Filipe Abreu, furriel of the army, who worked in Tancos.

The court provided the defendants with visors, which make the testimonies imperceptible. With some difficulty in making himself understood, Valter Abreu denies that he ever owed João Paulino a thousand euros and denies any involvement in drug trafficking. Confronted by the judge with previous statements in which he admitted to having trafficked, he says he was ill-advised by the lawyer. “In order not to be arrested did you admit to a judge who was dealing?”, The magistrate was surprised.

Valter admits that his nephew described the security breaches in Tancos and that he mentioned this to João Paulino, but denies having played any role in the assault. “I never went to Tancos,” he insists. He still denies turning off his cell phone on the night of the robbery and has no explanation for why the device was connected to the highway, after the assault.

Judge Nélson Barra asked for Valter Abreu’s statements during the investigation, to confront him with the fact that at that time he confessed his involvement, a crime he now denies. “That’s all. Lie,” he insists. The judge does not seem to be convinced. “If you didn’t participate, how do you know so many details?”

He says that he only confessed to the crimes of which he is accused on the recommendation of the lawyer, “Fernando Belchior”, a former inspector of the PJ who was suggested to him by that same police: “they called, he appeared.” It was this lawyer who asked him to “incriminate” João Paulino and to incriminate himself. “Why? What would you gain from that?”, Admired the current lawyer, Gonçalves Oliveira. “He told me he would get away with it, that he would not be arrested.”

Valter Abreu refused to answer questions from his nephew’s lawyer, Filipe Abreu. “I’m sorry, but I’m nervous,” he said.

The morning session

In the morning session, the lawyer Germano Marques da Silva, who defends the most media defendant in the case, former Defense Minister Azeredo Lopes, had said in the Santarém court that the accusation against the former ruler is a “bad example of that it must be an accusation “and that instead of containing a narration of the facts” it is a fable “, whose” purposes History will tell a day. ” The penalist says that the link between the recovery of the weapons and the fire in Pedrógão – the Public Ministry claims that Azeredo Lopes wanted to recover the weapons at all costs because the Government was dealing with the negative consequences of the tragedy – is “obscene and immoral “and is just a political comment.

Germano Alves also accuses the MP of not having the “intelligence” to realize that for the Government it would be indifferent that it was the PJ or PjM to recover the war material “.

Before, lawyers for João Paulino, Melo Alves, and former spokesman for the Military Judicial Police (PJM) Vasco Brazão, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, had been at odds, with the latter saying that the credibility of the perpetrator ” it is close to zero “and that” no “believes that it has made any agreement with GNR or PJM. Melo Alves reacted immediately accusing his colleague of “discussing evidence” instead of “presenting facts”. Sá Fernandes claims that this is a moment of “freedom” for the lawyer.

Sá Fernandes admits that Major Vasco Brazão “made a mistake” by failing to warn the Public Ministry (MP) that he was preparing an operation to recover the weapons, but denies any agreement with João Paulino. “He may have made a mistake, but he certainly does not make deals with arms dealers.”

Fernando Santos, accused by the MP of having been one of the perpetrators of the assault, denies having been in Tancos on the day of the coup. The lawyer of another accused, Hugo Santos, says for his part that the your client will tell you “the truth” and accuse PJ of having done a “poor” job. Bruno Ataíde’s lawyer, the GNR military man who will have made the bridge between Paulino and PJM, says that his client has limited himself to do everything to recover the weapons.

Defendants are identified one by one and almost all intend to make statements. One exception: Jaime Oliveira, who presented himself as chef, and is accused of having participated in the assault, does not want to answer questions from magistrates and lawyers. As for the GNR military Lima Santos, he says that he will only speak if he is able to open the CDs that were provided to him by the authorities with the accusations of the process.

Paulino’s lawyer accuses PJ

During the morning session, João Paulino’s lawyer held the PJ responsible for the robbery. Melo Alves made an initial presentation in which he held the PJ responsible for not having avoided the assault. “They had information that the assault was going to take place and for 80 days, instead of warning the barracks or making any effort to avoid the assault, they told Paulo Lemos to let the assault happen and find an excuse for not participating”.

Melo alves defended his client’s “regret”, stressing that it was decisive for the discovery of the truth and that it prevented the stolen material from “stopping at the black market”.

For the lawyer, “legally or illegally” was promised by the police that he would not be prosecuted criminally if he handed over the weapons.

Despite the limited seating resulting from the covid-19, the so-called “robbery of the century” trial room is full, with lawyers separated from each other by a kind of acrylic cubicles.

At the entrance of the court, Manuel Ferrador, a lawyer for Colonel Luís Vieira, former director of the Military Judicial Police (PJM), had argued that his client would have to be acquitted. “It was what these defendants lacked to be convicted of by a criminal association.” For the lawyer, Luís Vieira considered that the police force he led had the competence of the investigation and that the order of the former Attorney General who gave the investigation to the civil PJ “is illegal”.

The lawyer Carlos Melo Alves insisted, in turn, that his client, João Paulino, returned “all” the war material he had in his possession. Despite this, between what Paulino, the confessed author of the assault on Tancos, returned and the army’s list of what was stolen from the magazine still lack 30 high-powered explosives. The lawyer says that his client’s confession “presupposes repentance” and that he hopes to benefit from what “is provided by law”.

Ricardo Sá Fernandes, lawyer for Vasco Brazão, a former PJM spokesman, confirmed the news advanced by Expresso that he will ask for a written statement from the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Azeredo Lopes, a former defense minister who resigned following the case, refused to make any statement at the entrance of the court. The lawyer who represents him, Germano Marques da Silva, the lawyer most cited in all the judgments of Portuguese courts, also declined to speak.