Yesterday afternoon, Bruno Enrique won a victory at the Superior Court of Justice for Sports, avoiding a 12-match suspension and a R$60,000 fine for his gambling manipulation case. The entire STJD changed the first instance decision and sentenced the Flamengo striker to pay only a fine of R$100,000. But what convinced the auditors to change course?
In early September, No. 27 was accused under article 243-A, which stipulates “acts contrary to sporting ethics with the purpose of influencing the result of a match.” The accusation was that he forced a yellow card in a match against Santos at the Mane Garrincha in Brasilia in 2023 to benefit bettors. The defense appealed and he was suspended.
When he was censured by the STJD in August, Bruno Enrique could have been convicted under two articles of the Brazilian Sports Judiciary Code (CBJD). One, 243-A, stipulated a suspension of 12 to 24 games and a fine of 100 to 100,000 reais. The other, 243, is more comprehensive and talks about “intentionally acting in a manner harmful to the team you are defending.” In this case, the sentence could be between 180 and 720 days, or two years.
In the end, the athlete was found guilty in 1918, but this was not for a specific violation and related to a more general failure to comply with the competition regulations. Therefore, there will be no interruption of the match.
Although the plenary decision was not unanimous (6 to 3), the defense succeeded in persuading most of the supervisory committee members that the card Bruno Enrique had pressed was not taken to harm the club. Instead, he was suspended for the next game against Fortaleza, as part of the technical committee’s strategy to be available for the game against Palmeiras. All pledges were valid for the Brazilian team that year.
One of the main discussions in this session was about the “tactics” that soccer teams are practicing to force players to receive a third yellow card before unrelated matches. Therefore, the defense’s argument was that the offense occurred in a routine situation. Therefore, the accusation that Bruno Enrique’s younger brother, Wander Nunez Pinto Junior, had privileged information also lost its force. He would have passed it on to the other three bettors.
Flamengo’s defense team, led by lawyer Michel Assef Filho, managed to push through the argument that there was no manipulation of the result or malicious intent. The club also supported the striker’s legal team and insisted they show in court that they had not been harmed.
Preno is the last instance of STJD and there is no longer any possibility of appeal. Currently, Bruno Enrique is officially released as an actor. This Saturday at 6:30 pm, Flamengo will return to the field against Brasileiron, visiting Sport.
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