April 9 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has been released from pre-trial detention and placed under house arrest, his lawyers announced.
Pinto has been held in Lisbon awaiting trial for attempted extortion and for various computer crimes.
The 31-year-old “is now obliged to stay at home, combined with the ban on internet access”, according to a release sent to AFP.
While welcoming the decision, his lawyers said they hoped that the judicial authorities would take other measures paving the way for his “total freedom”.
Pinto’s revelations as part of the ‘Football Leaks’ file have led to the opening of legal proceedings in France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland and represent one of the most significant leaks ever into football’s murky business dealings.
Pinto was extradited from Hungary to Portugal last year after being accused of stealing data, including from the Portuguese state, which has brought 154 charges against him.
His supporters have long claimed that his whistleblowing status should have been protected rather than him be treated as hacker whose actions led to millions of confidential documents being provided to the Football Leaks website and then published by a string of media groups.
In January he was also been named as the source of leaked documents about the alleged business dealings of Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former Angolan president.
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