The Braga Court is looking, in the city, for a space with the capacity to accommodate large trials, in order to prevent them from being postponed again, as happened this week with the alleged robbery of the Santander bank and houses in Minho , which has ten defendants, and with another, drug trafficking, with 16 defendants.
As MINHO learned, the Braga Chamber has already made available, free of charge, one of the municipal sports pavilions, but the Court has not yet made a decision since, whatever the chosen space, investments must be made in furniture, wiring, and electronic, sound and computer equipment. Without forgetting those who are attached to the security of the enclosure and the courtroom itself.
The postponements, and as MINHO reported, were due to the fact that there are no rooms in the Court’s building with capacity for a large trial, since the rules impose a safety distance of two meters.
The panel of judges presiding over the alleged Santander gang’s trial wanted some witnesses to be heard by computer smartphone or by computer, but the defendants’ defense lawyers objected: “until now, when video conferencing is used, the witness goes to a court, is identified, and is alone speaking to the judges. If you go from home, you cannot confirm your identification and you do not know if someone is next to you, telling you how to respond, ”said O MINHO, jurist João Ferreira Araújo who defends defendants in both Law Suit.
Moreover, and as far as we know, the problem arises with other trials, as is the case with another one, also for drug trafficking, which today was distributed internally to schedule hearings.
On the other hand, in the two cases now postponed, the term of preventive detention, that is, its extinction, may be in question. This is because, for example, in the drug trial there are seven defendants, who were in pre-trial detention and are now “under house arrest” and whose maximum term of imprisonment ends in four months. Now, the process has 161 witnesses, which means that it will take time.
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