Last minute
The former banker’s defense wanted the case dismissed or suspended because of Alzheimer’s disease.
It is a new defeat in the fight that Ricardo Salgado’s defense has insisted on in several cases. This time, the appeal was in the process known as the BESA case, in which Salgado is being tried alongside Álvaro Sobrinho.
In the ruling, to which SIC had access, the judges of the Court of Appeal say that Salgado’s defense is assured in the trial by lawyers and reject the repetition of a medical examination at this time.
They understand that this new assessment will only be necessary if Salgado is sentenced to prison.
“If it is not possible to suspend or terminate the criminal proceedings, the appellant’s clinical situation will have to be assessed in the context of conviction – if it occurs – according to the principle of the need for the sentence in the execution phase: the effective execution of the custodial sentence only occurs when this proves necessary from the point of view of the preventive purposes assigned to the punishment”
