The three Portuguese citizens, residents in Beja, employees and managers of agricultural holdings, were not pronounced for trial, having “fallen” all the crimes of the accusation.
The defendants were placed in pre-trial detention and then at home., accused of a crime of criminal association, 55 crimes of human trafficking and one of money laundering, were not pronounced for trial by the Criminal Investigation Judge of the General Competence Court (TCG) from Cuba, after completed, on Tuesday night, the instructional debate that took place at the Beja Court
The magistrate ordered one of them to return the objects and valuables seized during the operation carried out in 23 November 2022 by PJ: a jeep and the value of 37.820 euros in cash and bank transfers.
After the instructional debate on the human trafficking process triggered at the end of 2022 by the Judicial Police (PJ), forty-eight defendants, thirty-eight people and ten companies were accused of committing a crime of criminal association and will be tried by a Collective Court.
Eighteen of the defendants were accused of the crime of human trafficking, with different degrees, 34 always, between natural and legal persons are responsible for a crime of money laundering and eight will be responsible for a crime of possession of a prohibited weapon.
The decision was announced early last Tuesday night., day on which the deadline for announcement by the Criminal Investigation Judge of the Court of Generic Competence expired (TCG) from Cuba, and all defendants in preventive and home detention would have to be released.
According to the Instructive Decision to which JN had access, only eight defendants, seven men and a woman, of the twenty-six who were in preventive detention since the beginning of the process, and two men and two women are under house arrest, awaiting trial deprived of liberty. Others are subject to periodic presentations or only to terms of identity and residence (TIR). On Monday afternoon, When the first session of the instructional debate ended, ten defendants who were also in pre-trial detention and two under house arrest had already been released..
The judge TCG of Cuba maintained that the decision to charge the defendants resulted from the proof of “the effective concertation of efforts and wills of the same, structured together, as a criminal association”, pointing out that Ramona Nicosur, Constatin Bata is Romica Maluca, all of Romanian nationality, “they are the leaders of their respective factions”. Helena Bellas added that it was “a highly organized activity, to which all the defendants contribute, each person has a specific task and everyone benefits from it.”, ends.
Pedro Pestana, lawyer for five of the defendants, left repairs to the way in which the inquiry and the instructional debate took place, justifying that “it was surprising that 10 minutes after the defense arguments ended, the judge announced the decision with 125 pages, realizing that the lawyers’ arguments were not valued in the slightest”, with the lawyer adding that “it is assumed that the instructional decision would already be prepared”, justified.
It is recalled that the PJ operation was carried out in 23 November 2022, in 14 localities in the municipalities of Cuba, Beja, Ferreira do Alentejo, Vidigueira and Serpa, Romanian citizens have been detained (20), Portuguese (9), moldavos (7), Indian (3), Guineans (1) and Ukrainians (1) and several “slave collectors” coming from almost all the countries of origin of the 457 people identified for living in inhumane conditions.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
