July 3 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, will stand trial on September 4 accused of attempted extortion, computer hacking and breach of correspondence, according to reports.
Pinto has been in preventive detention under house arrest and without internet access since March, 2019. His indictment covers 90 alleged “crimes” rather than the 147 which the Portuguese state first brought against him.
Pinto’s revelations as part of the ‘Football Leaks’ file have led to the opening of legal proceedings in France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland and represent one of the most significant leaks ever into football’s murky business dealings.
He was extradited from Hungary to Portugal last year after being accused of stealing data.
His supporters have long claimed that his whistleblowing status should have been protected rather than him be treated as hacker whose actions led to millions of confidential documents being provided to the Football Leaks website and then published by a string of media groups.
In January he was also been named as the source of leaked documents about the alleged business dealings of Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former Angolan president.
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