A French court has sentenced to four years in prison Arménio Pinto Martins, the owner of the truck involved in the accident that in March 2016 which resulted in the death of 12 Portuguese emigrants in Switzerland.
The court of large jurisdiction in Moulins, France, also condemned this Wednesday the driver Ricardo Pinheiro, now 21, was sentenced to three years in prison.
In the trial that began on Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked for four years’ imprisonment for each of the defendants, accused of aggravated negligent homicide.
In the closing arguments, Ricardo Pinheiro’s lawyer applied for a two-year sentence and the lawyer for Arménio Pinto asked for his acquittal.
The accident occurred on the evening of March 24, at the Estrada Centro Europa (National 79) in Montbeugny, Moulins. The van collided head-on with a lorry on the opposite side of the road. Only Ricardo Pinheiro, who made an ill-calculated overtaking, survived.
The group had left Romont, Switzerland, bound for Portugal to spend Easter and travelled in the overcrowded Renault Spinter, with exceeded its seating capacity, made available by Arménio Pinto Martins, which Ricardo Pinheiro agreed to drive.
- It is a mistake to put heavy fighter aircraft in Castelo Branco
- Parliament approves: throwing cigarette buts on the ground will result in a fine
- Thirty Six persons tried for ATM explosions and money laundering
- Portugal regains 3rd place as world’s most peaceful country.
- Training for the security forces for appropriate intervention with LGBTI people
- AGIF considers that Portugal remains “very vulnerable to the risk of fires”
- More dead and injured in road accidents in the first five months of the year
- President of Assembly of Republic proposes to dedicate June 17 as National Day in Memory of Victims of Fires
- Programa Estou Aqui! ® I’m Here Child Safety Program
- US State Department begins social media screening for nearly all visa applications.
- Rural Fires. Municipalities have until the end of the day to clear land from non-compliant landowners
- Portugal Civil Protection Exercise Cascade 2019
- Portugal: Company uses satellite images to find environmental crimes
- Comunicado Conjunto do Ministério da Administração Interna e do Ministério da Agricultura, Florestas e Desenvolvimento Rural
- Portugal Mainland placed on Rural Fire Alert
