1.11 The Rise and Fall of Bruno de Carvlaho - Court Testimony: Bruno Jacinto

A brief summary of the last post before we begin. Officers from the GNR were heard who attended Alcochete immediately after the attacks took place and who apprehended and arrested those defendants who now stand trial for their parts in the attack. We heard evidence that mobile triangulation confirms they were in the location of the attacks. We've a WhatsApp group where the attack was planned. However none of the three people accused of the moral authorship of the attacks at Alcochete that took place on May 15th, 2018 were in that group. Neither were messages forwarded from that group to any of the parties. Already after just three sessions the case amongst them is looking wafer thin and despite the fact you've still months worth of testimony to be heard, the police evidence would have held the most weight to secure their prosecution on all their charges.

In the forthcoming posts we'll look at the testimony provided by four members of staff who at the time of the attacks were all still employed by the club. Bruno Jacinto, the former club liaison officer, Gonçalves, director of security for the academy at Alcochete, Vasco Santos the club's security director and André Geraldes, the Sporting team manager. It should be stressed that for all quotes shown I'm reliant on a translation which isn't 100% accurate and reliable and in some instances I've sometimes guessed at what was being intimated by those who were speaking in court. In others I've used a better turn of phrase in English for example where the translation shown was cheerleaders. Here I may have used fans in lieu or similarly claques for groups of cheerleaders. I apologise for any offence in advance owing to my lack of understanding of Portuguese. Given the length of testimony I've ended up breaking them into smaller posts. So we'll begin with the testimony of…

Bruno Jacinto

Day one of the trials began with the court hearing evidence from Bruno Jacinto who was Sporting's liaison officer and was present at the aftermath of the invasion at Alcochete. Not only that it was Jacinto that made the phone call to Ricardo Gonçalves (director of security for the academy at Alcochete) fifteen minutes before the attackers arrived to give the security details at the academy forewarning of the claques imminent arrival.

Note - Just to confirm in order of testimony posts I've done sessions two and three before session one in this context.

From a prosecution standpoint Jacinto stands accused of being one of the three masterminds behind the attack alongside the former Club President Bruno de Carvalho and Nuno Mendes more commonly known as Mustafá, leader of Sporting's largest and oldest claques, the Juve Leo. Throughout these posts referring to testimony note that this alleged ‘masterminding’ will be referred to by the legal term of ‘moral authorship’.

Jacinto by the end of the first day will have provided well over four hours testimony in total.

Jacinto was arrested on November 9th, accused by the Lisbon Public Prosecutor's Office of having prior knowledge of the crime, its preparation and execution without doing anything to prevent it, and even helping the perpetrators escape so they wouldn't be arrested. Jacinto denied all the accusations, however the judge originally had ordered his pre-trial detention.

Jacinto confirmed for the court that he was present in Madeira for the club's final game of the 2017/18 season against Marítimo. He states however that he wasn't present at the airport when the players flew back and were met by members of the ultras and therefore didn't witness anything said to have occurred between the fans and the players. "I only travelled the next day to Lisbon. I learned that fans were going to talk to players in Alcochete because of one of the fans as had happened in the past. The poor results caused great discontent among the fans. I reported this to my director André Geraldes by message. He just asked me if it was tomorrow and I said yes but he said nothing more. When there were bad results, the fans went to the Academy and asked to speak to players and coaches. This has happened four or five times in Alcochete since the beginning of the Academy.”

When questioned in reference to what had occurred at the airport in Madeira, Jacinto made the point that in future discussions he was party to, no one from Juventude mentioned going to assault the players. Even so he would warn André Geraldes more than once of the fans desire to travel to Alcochete in the following days but claims to have gotten no feedback and confirmed that it would then have been Geraldes who reported these kind of events to the club president Bruno de Carvalho. He states he has no knowledge of what was done with the information that was reported up the club's chain of command resulting from his initial warnings.

“At two, three in the afternoon I went to Alvalade to talk to Tiago Silva [member of the Juve Leo board] about the discontent of the fans and about the Taça de Portugal final. He confirmed to me that they were going to the Academy, but not how they were going to confront the squad. Tiago Silva didn't tell me how many people would go to Alcochete. On the other side of the street was Fernando Mendes, but I didn't talk to him. The conversation took place next to the multisport in Alvalade. I tried to talk to my director a second time in various ways, but he didn't answer me."

"I alerted the Academy's security director, Ricardo Gonçalves at 5pm. He asked me what they were going to do there? I told him that they would question especially the three players who had friction at the airport, Acuña, Battaglia and Rui Patrício.”

"Then, I had other things to do, administrative and bureaucratic issues. I passed on the information, which was my job, to my director. Not being possible with my director, I called the director of security at the Academy. I went to the Academy as soon as I contacted Ricardo Gonçalves. It was my job to see what was going to happen and to act as a link with the players. I arrived at 5:26 pm in Alcochete. The security guard opened the gate, after saying I wanted to talk to some of those responsible. I saw a group of people - I saw who they were, there were five members of Juve Leo, Fernando Mendes, Nuno Torres, Joaquim Costa, Sérgio Santos... It was then that I began to realise the situation. Those Juve Leo members went to the training area, which is visible to all. I spoke to them to understand what had happened. I told Fernando Mendes that it could never have happened and they assured me that they had all entered with their faces uncovered. I was there for 40 minutes. William de Carvalho stopped the car and spoke to them. I saw the GNR that did nothing and Ricardo Gonçalves spoke to them very unhappy with the situation.”

"Nuno Torres asked me if I could give him a ride to his car. I gave him a ride. He asked me if he could use my car to enter the Academy, already during the trip. I asked another employee of the Academy, Ricardo Vaz, if it was possible for the concierge to give authorisation for Nuno Torres' blue BMW to enter. It was to get other members. We went to Montijo, where his car was. I then went to the Vasco da Gama Bridge. I wasn't surprised to see those people at the Academy."

Jacinto tries several times to recall the information he had in hand: that some elements of Juve Leo were going to the Academy of Alcochete. He notes it was not the first time that this had happened. He gives the example some months previous of fans going to meet with Jorge Jesus.

Jacinto confirms that when he arrived at the Alcochete he saw people running, some of whom had their faces uncovered. He adds for good measure "If the GNR did nothing to the group of five members of the Juve Leo [Fernando Mendes, Nuno Torres, Joaquim Costa, Sérgio Santos] who am I to do it?’

Note - Pretty sure that's either four elements, a reference I don't understand or one name is missing. You choose. He does seem to make a very valid point however. I would assume the fifth member of the Beatles is the one they call Hallelujah.

Jacinto discusses a conversation he had with Mustafá in regards to Jorge Jesus no longer being Sporting's coach. On a flight to Lisbon, Mustafá told Jacinto that Bruno de Carvalho had told him "do what you want.” Jacinto denies having known of any planning of fans for the players at the Academy, but recognises the existence of conversations between the elements of the four Sporting groups of Claques and André Geraldes, who had already been an official liaison with the fans. "André Geraldes reported directly to Bruno de Carvalho. I had no concrete power to say whether or not to go to the Academy. I reported to my director."

Note - it doesn't state when the flight occurred in the reporting. Given I've already read testimony from Mustafá previous to writing this post I'll suggest there's a distinct possibility that it was the day after the game in Madeira. I'm adding parts of testimony as I find them where I think their use is most appropriate.

Let's play fill in the blanks. I'm assuming that Jacinto went to Casinha home to the Juve Leo which is located under one of the stands. I did query with someone whether this was still the case and that person confirmed to the best of their knowledge it was but that he couldn't be 100% sure. He did however add for context that all four groups have, or at least had a presence at the stadium.

From the Estádio José Alvalade to the Cristiano Ronaldo Academia in Alcochete is 39kms distance and it's claimed you can drive there in 32 minutes. I've seen how my friend drives in Lisboa and I reckon she could probably shave that time down by about 8 minutes depending on what the basic speed limit is. Actually if 10kms is 6.1 miles then that's a distance just shy of 24 miles and even if you averaged just 60mph you'd do the trip in 24 minutes. But allowing for the possibility of traffic depending on the time of day, given Lisboa is after all a city, let's say it would have taken half an hour for those going to have made the trip. That is for those who went from the stadium which isn't to say that they all did. Jacinto says in his testimony at 2, 3 in the afternoon - they're very liberal with the time in Portugal it appears. He says he alerted Ricardo Gonçalves at the academy at 5 and arrives at 5.26 so maybe my maths wasn't so bad after all. Between those two times the attack has already occurred and he arrives to see people fleeing the scene. He states his purpose for going is to act as a link to the players. So if he's calling Gonçalves at 5 to tell them they're coming and if that was fifteen minutes before their arrival and his arrival was 5.26 then the entire escapade takes place in under 11 minutes. Not sure that quite adds up. But whatever the exact timings Jacinto at the time does seem very relaxed about the entire affair. He makes it known that he's given prior warning to his director and phoning Gonçalves 2 hours, maybe 3, after his initial conversation suggests he's either nonchalant about the forthcoming visit, or someway complicit. The fact he mentioned speaking to Mustafá here on the plane and the phrase "do what you want,” should be highlighted because truthfully it seems that's now the best route the prosecutors have of winning their case made against Bruno de Carvalho given what we learned in the last post about the testimony from the GNR).

How, why and when de Carvalho said "do what you want,” proves telling in the context and manner in which it is said. It's a stark warning to be careful with what you say, because words once spoken can never be taken back and they can be easily misconstrued. Lawyers are paid handsomely so they can use those words in a variety of contexts to suit their clients needs, same as the prosecutors. So that if you hear them being repeated by Nuno Mendes without context they might actually sound like he's given the Claques licence to genuinely do what they want even if that's to attack the players. I say it all the time to the women I work with when I think about it. But I say it totally non-plussed, anything for an easy life, shrug of the shoulders “yeah, do what you want.” It's a phrase frequently used by exasperated parents to their children or wives and girlfriends to their other halves after being ground down and you realise you're fighting a losing battle - “do whatever you want,” which is to actually say “I'm sick of arguing the point with you over this, whatever I say you're going to do it anyway so just get on with it and leave me in peace. I've more important matters to tend to.” Anyways, I'll leave you with that thought. Back to the post…

The morning testimony breaks and it's noted that Jacinto stresses several times to the Judge that he was unaware of the attention of the fans. The reporter present reiterates the point that Jacinto spoke to Tiago Silva, one of the leaders two hours before the invasion.

Note - They say 2 hours, Jacinto would have said maybe 2, maybe 3. Like the infamous Gatusso quote you know ‘Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.’

They then mention the fact he tries several times to contact his superior André Geraldes but was unsuccessful.

Note - So the question should I guess be why does he only think at 5pm to contact Gonçalves?

Returning to testimony after a recess Jacinto continued to be questioned by the prosecution. He explains as to why he felt the need to contact André Geraldes again, namely because it was the week of the Taça de Portugal final and he had other matters to discuss with his boss, in addition to the members of the claques going to the Alcochete training centre.

Note - One assumes here that if he is being completely honest that he doesn't have any notion about what's going to occur at Alcochete then you can fully believe that in the here and now his mind was fully on his duties ahead of the Taça de Portugal Final. I don't know the full extent of his club duties but as his job title suggests, the club liaison officers role is to liaise, act as a go between, a point of contact. I'm guessing his week was due to have been a very busy one. He probably had a list of demands from the players to fulfil for tickets for friends and family. He's got to liaise with fan groups and the PSP. It could also be that in truth he was incompetent or too lackadaisical in his approach. There are of course many people who simply think ‘well it's not my problem’ and if anything happens I can say ‘well I did try’ and deflect the blame onto someone else. For minor indiscretions you might have even gotten away with it without any share of the blame at all. The invasion and attacks - clearly not minor indescretions.

Jacinto confirms that he only warned two parties, Geraldes and Gonçalves, of the fan's trip to Alcochete. It was at the academy where Fernando Mendes informed him that he personally had nothing to do with the aggressions against the players in the dressing room. Jacinto cannot guarantee that it was Mustafá who told him that it was de Carvalho, who let the supporters do whatever they wanted with the players. Jacinto also said that he spoke to several people at the time who had travelled from Funchal, where Sporting had played against Marítimo, to Lisbon.

Note - On that basis let's assume what I said about the flight back earlier being correct.

Speaking in relation to a meeting which took place two days after the defeat to Atlético at the José Alvalade at which Jacinto was present, along with de Carvalho and leaders of the claques such as Mustafá and Fernando Mendes, he prefers not to give too many details. Instead he summarises that nothing had been solved between those parties present. At that meeting he assured that no one talked about confronting or hitting players.

Jacinto is confronted with statements which he is said to have made to a PSP spotter, telling him that he did not know if anyone would go to the Academy. The judge kindly points out to Jacinto that he already knew about it through Tiago Silva as he'd testified to earlier in the day.

Note - someone was clearly paying attention.

Jacinto recalls how on the other visits nothing serious had ever happened. He does admit to not having told the PSP spotter that he didn’t know about the fans' trip to Alcochete, although he didn't explain this apparent contradiction.

Sidebar - PSP being the police force and a spotter has two main roles which are to provide a footballing operation with live information and give intelligence on a club's group of fans. They also act as a link between the police and the club's supporter community. So if you're asking should Jacinto have relayed the information he was privy to, to the PSP spotter then the answer is yes. Should they have pressed home as to why he didn't in the court? Definitely yes. Because on one hand you can claim he was preoccupied with the forthcoming Taça de Portugal final, you can also claim that he probably did genuinely have no idea of what was going to happen, that naïvely he went on past experience where it was all OK, but that ultimately it was not his call to make. That's why you have a police force. The sticking point and question it raises is why he wilfully withheld information to the PSP because whilst I cannot say definitively they'd have sent a patrol car I'd take an educated guess that they would have done and had they done would this have prevented the attacks? Does any of that make Jacinto culpable on any level? On this one specific point I would say that yes it did.

Lawyer Carlos Melo Alves wants to know if Jacinto gave feedback to Tiago Silva on the failure to contact Geraldes? Jacinto says no and adds that he was not asked for permission to enter the Academy. He also adds that he doesn't know if Silva had wanted Geraldes' permission. He recalls that authorisation from the club, specifically from the director of security, was required to enter the Academy citing an example in the December of 2017, when more than 20 fans went to ask Alcochete for explanations from the players and staff.

Lawyer Miguel Matias wants to know if the trips to the Academy were consented to by the clubs management, to which Jacinto states that he himself never participated in this type of meetings.

Responding to questions from the lawyer Aníbal Pinto, which focus on the behaviour of the Sporting supporters and the specific incident where the flares were thrown onto the pitch in the Dérbi de Lisboa on the penultimate game of the 2017/18 season, Jacinto repeats that the supporters only announced that they were going to Alcochete to express their discontent to the players, arguing that he could not have personally guessed what would eventually happen. The judge cuts off some of these questions because they have already been answered, or because the answers to them would merely be common sense.

Jacinto is asked what he thought was meant by de Carvalho's comment to those fans present at the meeting in April "do whatever you want to the players"? Jacinto assures that in his opinion, at most, he thought they were to talk to the players in a more exalted manner and certainly not to hit and confront them physically. He admits that, in theory, that the trip to Alcochete might have served as motivation for the players for their forthcoming game against Desportivo das Aves, in the final of the Taça de Portugal.

Note - Really? Do you actually believe that a group of player's who already feel disconnected from the club because of statements made by Bruno de Carvalho on social media questioning their performance and commitment would see having a group of angry fans questioning their performance in addition face to face as serving as some sort of motivation rather than demoralising them further? I'm not personally convinced you know. How about you?

The lawyer Amândio Madaleno wants to know if it is possible for external elements to infiltrate the group who were going to visit Alcochete? On the afternoon of the attack, Jacinto says he does not know if other people who did not belong to the supporters group could have entered in addition. He assures that he did not hear screams or any exchange of words between William Carvalho and one of the men with their faces uncovered with whom he was with in Alcochete for a period of about 40 minutes.

Jacinto also confirmed that he personally was not informed of the identity of the person who caused the injuries to Bas Dost's head in the dressing room.

The lawyer Alexandrina Viegas asks if Tiago Silva asked him to keep their proposed trip to Alcochete a secret? Jacinto states that he has no recollection of that having been the case.

Jacinto states that he showed his displeasure at Mustafá sometimes for the flares thrown onto the pitch during the games, which harm the club financially with penalties imposed by the Portuguese disciplinary commission. He stresses that he did not speak directly, or by phone, with Mustafá about an invasion of Alcochete. Only weeks after the attack, did Jacinto discover that 14 of the individuals present at the Academy that day had in fact belonged to the Juve Leo.

Note - you suspect he must have had a firm idea given he'd been to visit one of them mid afternoon, around 2, or maybe 3, and then stood next to five of the leaders when he arrived.

Jacinto admits to knowing the headquarters of the Claques group well and that the keys to it were with Jójó, a retired carpenter who, allegedly, almost lived there during the week.

Note - It is reported elsewhere that Jójó was said to sleep in the attic mentioned in the raid at Casinha by the GNR in our last post.

Miguel Fonseca, the lawyer for de Carvalho asks how many meetings that occurred between members of the Claques and the board of directors Jacinto had been present in? Two that he remembers, one in the board room, the other in the headquarters, already mentioned during the trial.

Jacinto reveals that until that day, any Sporting member could travel on the same plane that carried the team if they paid an extra amount for the trip.

Jacinto confirms that he personally only saw people fleeing the Academy outside the complex and that hadn't seen anyone jumping the wall

Jacinto express that he had no knowledge of conversations between fans, in closed WhatsApp groups, about going to Alcochete. He confirms that previously had been a member of the Juve Leo until March 2017. He makes it explicit again that during conversations with Tiago Silva on the day of the attack, he did not know or indicate to him what time the training would take place that afternoon.

Paulo Camoesas asks several questions. In some responses Jacinto explains what his duties as Sporting's liaison officer were. He confirms that there were journalists at the entrance, next to the security guard of the Academy. He assures that personally upon his arrival at Alcochete that he always remained in a visible place, as well as the five members of the Juve Leo leaders who were close to him. Jacinto is adamant that he was not one of those who instigated any violent acts.

Jacinto states that when speaking to Ricardo Gonçalves at fifteen minutes to five he mentioned three players who could be the target of aggression. He learned about it, he guarantees, through what he saw on the Internet, denying that it was Tiago Silva who told him.

- Note either the reporting was wrong earlier or Jacinto is contradicting his times with 1700 hours and 1645 hours. If the latter is correct then actually the attacks could have taken place over a period close on half hour in total given the time he purported to have arrived in his earlier testimony. As for the line about - he saw it on the internet? Really? What when you were behind the wheel of your car driving? I'd have called bullshit if I was one of the lawyers or whatever the legalese for calling bullshit is.

As to why he didn't tell the PSP spotter that the fans were going to Alcochete we finally learn his opinion that "they did not evaluate matters well."

Jacinto confirms that it was Tiago Fernandes, former interim coach of Sporting and son of Sporting legend Manuel Fernandes who showed Jacinto on his cell phone, the video in which the interior of the dressing room was seen full of smoke from flares. Jacinto confirms once again that the five members of the Juve Leo who were with him were "incredulous" with the whole situation.

Note - I've seen the CCTV footage of the six of them stood around looking like they're having a mothers meeting in the playground. It starts off like a charge of the light brigade down a hill with the group of attackers faces masked to conceal their identities. Whereas Mendes group walks through the gates unmasked like they're taking a stroll through a park in Lisboa. It's not like the viral video of the dog called Fenton where it's chasing a herd of deer and the owner is shouting for it to come back. They're not like parents trying to get their kids back before something gets out of hand. It's like charge of the bloody light brigade with the officers coming from the rear to see how everything is playing out. In short “incredulous” my arse. Just try imagine how that incredulity might have played out in a conversation ‘Oh my god what do they think they were doing? Isn't it awful behaviour? Absolutely shocking. We had no idea when they all ran ahead that this would happen. They said they were just going to talk to them and they wore Sporting gear round their faces to cover their identities to let the players know it's ok, we're Sportinguistas. Just please play better on the Sunday!’

Anyways back to the post…

Jacinto had notes with Marcos Acuña's phone numbers and another from the Academy's direct contact, in a calendar. He defines it as completely normal to have these type of numbers in his possession because of the position he occupied within the club.

That ended Jacinto's testimony which frankly was full of contractions. I dont think it's hard to work out why he ended up being the club's ‘former’ liaison officer. Look all being said, it's hard to truly judge a person from one report. Does he come across as being naïve? Definitely. Would you stand next to five leaders of the largest claque whilst an attack was ongoing? Would you stand next to those people knowing you were a former member of the group and how that might have appeared? Would you be asking if one of the leaders could bring their car into the facility? I mean it's not a good look is it? The five stood next to him clearly weren't daft enough to get their hands dirty whilst the attacks were ongoing and nothing suggests they'd lifted a finger to stop it. Or maybe they had given the word at a certain point that enough was enough. A whistle, a wave of the hand to a spotter. A gesture never captured or interpreted on the CCTV footage. On the flip side you can see why someone could piece a case against him. He doesn't strike me as a mastermind of any description though or clever enough to have planned any of it. That doesn't mean to say he wasn't complicit on some level.

Given the length and depth of some of the testimony provided here I think it makes sense to begin to break these up into smaller posts. Next time we’ll be back with the testimony of Ricardo Gonçalves the then director of security at the Sporting Academy.