Fernando Belmonte, of 58 year old, and Monica Lourenço, of 38 year old, sentenced to a single penalty of 22 years in prison for the death and robbery of a German couple, occurred on 16 April 2023, at Quinta do Paraíso Janedi, in Baleizão, county Beja, were released on the morning of Tuesday, for being exhausted the period of two years of maintenance in pre -trial detention.
The Liberation Warrants of the two defendants were issued by the Central Court of the Beja District Court (JCC/TCB) and sent to the prison establishment (EP) Jewish Valley, where was the man and the EP of Tires, Where the woman was inmate.
For considering that this period was exhausted, The defense lawyer of the two defendants, It was admitted to the first minutes of Tuesday, day 13 May, In the JCC/TCB of a habeas corpus for the release of Fernando and an application for revocation and replacement of Monica's coercion measure, but the court anticipated the liberation warrants.
"It's 13 May in Fatima, But it wasn't a miracle. Justice worked and justice was done ”, Lidador told the News (LN), Lawyer Pedro Pestana.
It was understanding of the causal, as was the judges, that beyond the judgment of the Évora Court of Appeal (THREE), of 22 October 2024, which declared the partial nullity of the decision of the 1st instance that in 4 April last year condemned the couple, for having been valued illegal and prohibited proof, There are other resources pending in the TRE, that has delayed the reading of a new judgment by a collective of judges of the Court of Beja.
According to the defense “appeals on judges' impediment incidents have a suspensive effect on reading a new judgment of the 1st instance that can only occur after the judgment of these impediments and they still await a decision”, justified the lawyer. Remembering that for the crime in question, murder, The maximum period of maintenance of pre -trial detention cannot exceed the two years, Pedro Pestana made a point of making it clear that “I fully trust the innocence of the two defendants. Autopsies did not determine the cause of the death of the German couple. And in the face of a reasonable doubt, in the next trial, must be acquitted ”, concluded.
The defense awaits the decision of the judges of the TRE on two appeals of impediment incident. By LN, Pedro Pestana revealed that the first appeal is about the first instance magistrates because they “had access to prohibited evidence and formed the condemnatory conviction based on illegality” and the second over the judges, because “two of the three judges judge the previous appeal, And it is understood that they cannot re-judge a new appeal ”, sustained the causal.
It is recalled that Fernando and Mónica would only be detained by PJ, in Aljustrel, about a month after the discovery of Jan Otton's bodies, of 79 years and Ilse Ediltraud, of 71 year old, inside the farmhouse they owned in the village of Baleizão. In 3 April last year, Fernando Belmonte and Mónica Lourenço, were sentenced to a total of 22 years of imprisonment in legal accumulation, and 14 years for each of the crimes of simple homicide and 2 years and 6 months for the crime of qualified theft.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
