The electrician is accused of 37 crimes of computer fraud and 38 crimes of manufacture and sale of illicit devices, while the remaining 37 defendants are in court for the crime of illegitimate access and the offense of the use of illicit devices.

During the first session of the trial which was held in the Auditorium of the Rectory of the University of Coimbra, due to the high number of defendants, electrician João Antunes said he was “repentant about all of this”.

He explained to the Coimbra Court that he started by installing boxes and routers in the house of direct friends, and then expanded the activity due to “word of mouth”, pointing out situations in which he was not the one who proposed the service.

The boxes and routers that he ordered and programmed and then installed at clients' homes cost “around €95”. The electrician denied receiving payment of any monthly or annual fee for the services.

According to João Antunes, this activity brought him “annoyance and losses” because there were those who did not pay him immediately upon installation and in some cases because the service did not always work.

At the beginning of the trial, six of the remaining 37 defendants were absent, and 24 chose not to speak.