Google translated from Portuguese
The trial had to be scheduled for a parish council in the municipality of Loures due to more than 80 defendants, but was postponed because of works in the courtrooms until Friday.
The start of the trial of the Hell’s Angels case , scheduled for the 13th, was postponed because the works in the space where the hearings would take place will only be completed on Friday, announced this Monday the panel of judges.
The judgment, to be carried out by a panel of the Judicial Court of the District of Lisbon North, had to be scheduled for a parish council of the municipality of Loures due to the high number of defendants (more than 80) and lawyers, but given the information that “the works did not start on the date initially scheduled, are not yet completed and will only be completed next Friday”, judge Sara Pina Cabral, president of the panel, decided that “the trial cannot start”, as scheduled , on 13 September, “because, once the works are completed in the room, it is necessary to test the equipment and put the computer system into operation, which will be carried out on the 13th and 14th of September”.
“Furthermore, as transmitted by the Parish Council that granted the space to the Court, the room will not be available on September 27, for reasons related to the holding of local elections”, the judge’s order reads. to which the Lusa agency had access.
In view of the situation, the judge decided to cancel the trial sessions scheduled for September 13, 14 and 27, notifying the parties of the cancellation of those sessions. The order is silent on the new date for the start of the trial.
In October 2020, the 89 defendants in the Hell’s Angels case — accused of serious crimes, including criminal association — were all sent to trial, after the judge of the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC), Carlos Alexandre, confirmed almost in full the prosecution of the Public Ministry (MP).
The indictment has more than a thousand pages and in one of the passages of the document, to which Lusa had access, the TCIC judge concludes that, given the evidence analyzed, “this set of elements thus grouped is not a simple motard recreational club , but a group of people who organize themselves (…) in paramilitary or similar ways to the mode of action of a militia”.
Carlos Alexandre considered that all elements that make up the Hell’s Angels biker group are “in absolute consonance, hierarchical and imbued with obedience to the statutes (of the club) and the obligations arising from it”, regardless of “any side where they are located”.
This last consideration by the judge is related to the fact that one of the defendants alleges that he was in Luxembourg at the time of the criminal acts (aggression) that occurred in the Prior Velho area , in Lisbon.
In the allegations of the pre-trial debate, which took place on July 20, 2020, the MP asked for all defendants to go to trial, arguing that they all committed the crimes listed in the indictment, which had telephone tapping, documents seized from the group as evidence. biker and the testimony of witnesses and defendants.
The MP gave as proven the attack perpetrated by the defendants and members of the Hell’s Angels group in the restaurant “Mesa do Prior”, in Prior Velho, as well as the persecution carried out by them against Mário Machado, leader of the far-right movement Nova Social and who belonged to a rival biker group .
The prosecutor also gave as proven the other crimes contained in the indictment, including extortion and possession of prohibited weapons, including knuckles, clubs and extendable sticks.
The prosecution considers that those members of the Hell’s Angels group devised a plan to annihilate a rival group, in March 2018, using physical force and various weapons to inflict serious injuries, “if necessary to death”.
Attorney José Castro, representative of Mário Machado (assistant in the process), fully endorsed the prosecutor’s thesis and the defendants’ going to trial, namely by criminal association and other serious crimes against physical integrity.
At the time, after leaving the TCIC, some defense lawyers contested the MP’s accusation, especially the imputation of the crime of criminal association, and pointed out several nullities in the process, which could give rise to appeals.
The defendants are accused of crimes such as criminal association, attempted aggravated murder aggravated by the use of a weapon, offense to physical integrity, extortion, theft, drug trafficking and possession of weapons and ammunition, among other crimes.
