According to the decision of the Oporto Court, the judges decided to dismiss the appeal presented by the defendant, maintaining the decision of the first instance.
The businessman claimed that the penalty applied was “manifestly excessive”, fighting for its fixation at a limit very close to the legal minimum, and suspended in its execution.
However, the judges considered that the suspension of the execution of the sentence in drug trafficking cases would be an "attack" on the national and international strategic needed to combat this type of crime, and should only be applied in "special" cases.
“In fact, a significant part of the prison population is serving sentences, directly or indirectly, related to drug trafficking and consumption. In 2005, drug trafficking was the main cause of conviction in detention, with 2,592 convictions. And this number has been increasing annually in inconceivable proportions”, states the judgment.
The Court of Appeal of Porto also confirmed the sentence of five years in prison applied in the same case to a man residing in Ovar who grew cannabis to sell to the owner of the smartshop and other individuals.
In May 2021, the Court of Aveiro convicted these two defendants and four other people for drug trafficking crimes.
Three of the defendants who were in preventive detention were sentenced to effective prison terms ranging from five to six years.
A fourth defendant who was also in preventive detention was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but in his case the sentence was suspended.
The remaining two defendants were sentenced to suspended sentences of four years and three months and two and a half years.
During an inspection by the Food Safety and Economic Authority (ASAE) in September 2019, thirty-two bags of cannabis and three plates of cannabis, sufficient for more than 200 doses, were seized inside the smartshop.
Two months later, during a search of the establishment, Judiciary Police inspectors found 138 doses of cannabis, around 150 packages of cakes, brandy, honey and Nutella made with cannabis, 29 joints and several bottles with THC ( active ingredient responsible for the psychotropic effects of cannabis).