The former president of Sporting Lisbon will be tried for ordering 50 football hooligans to attack his own players during training.
The attack occurred on 15th May 2018 as the players were training, with fifty football hooligans entering the team’s facilities.
The thugs attacked several players and staff and also wrecked the locker rooms at the club’s training ground.
The Sporting players told police that Argentines Marcos Acuna and Rodrigo Battaglia received the worst of the attacks.
They were reportedly kicked, punched and even received death threats as the thugs assaulted them.
The attack was allegedly motivated by the team’s disappointing year in both the Portuguese League and the Champions League but prosecutors claim former club president De Carvalho ‘ordered’ the attack.
The decision to go ahead with the trial comes after the investigative judge found that there was sufficient evidence to continue with the case.
De Carvalho was arrested in November 2018 but released on bail four days later.
He was accused of 56 crimes, among them, ‘kidnapping’ and ‘terrorism’.
After the news of the judge’s decision to go ahead with the trial came public, Bruno de Carvalho was quick to defend himself on social media.
He wrote: “Anyone who purposely allows someone to be continually mocked, slandered and defamed is a criminal… and a coward!”
There are 43 other people to be judged, among them, Nuno Mendes, also known as Mustafa, the alleged leader of the hooligan group ‘Juventude Leonina’ and alleged long-time friend of De Carvalho.
It is unclear if a date has been set for the trial.
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Story By: Juan Mayes , Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
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