Seven of the fifteen witnesses scheduled for today’s session were heard, with an additional half a dozen postponed by the presiding judge.
Judge Ana Dias Costa rescheduled defense witnesses for Fernando Madureira to May 27, after the last initially planned hearing on May 13. Depositions set for April 28 are now moved to May 9.
Due to previous delays, more than thirty depositions have been rescheduled in this complex case, where numerous individuals have already been interrogated extensively by the court.
In organizing the trial sessions, the court had previously requested the lawyers’ “good offices” to harmonize schedules, highlighting the “tight scheduling” due to the numerous witnesses called.
This case, one among several involving defendants in custody, including Fernando Madureira, saw the tribunal indicating it had no “alternative dates available,” a situation further complicated by the backlog of dozens of depositions.
The 12 defendants in the Operation Pretoriano, including former Super Dragões leader Fernando Madureira, began their testimonies on March 17 in the Tribunal de São João Novo, Porto, amid heightened police presence in the vicinity.
The charges comprise 19 cases of aggravated coercion and threat, seven of bodily harm within the context of a sports event, one of public instigation to crime, another of throwing objects or liquids, and three of infringing freedom of information, related to a FC Porto general assembly in November 2023.
Among the dozen defendants, Fernando Madureira is the only one in preventive detention, the most severe coercive measure, while the others were released at various stages.
