after the conviction for rape, Genoa does not suspend him – Corriere.it

Manolo Portanova, sentenced in the first instance (with abbreviated procedure) for a group sexual assault which took place on 30 May 2021 in Siena together with his uncle (same sentence), a friend (who instead chose the ordinary procedure: the trial will start in February) and his brother, a minor at the time, will continue to train regularly with Genoa. And he will find, after Blessin’s dismissal, the new coach Gilardino.

The rossobl club, which will not make any statement regarding the matter, has in fact opted for the “presumption of innocence” up to the third degree of judgment and therefore at the end of the trial. it is therefore presumable that the player will continue to regularly carry out his activity until the final sentence. The times are about a year, in consideration of the fact that Portanova has chosen the abbreviated procedure. The facts, now known, date back to the night between 30 and 31 May 2021, when in a house in Siena Portanova, his uncle, his brother (a minor at the time) and a friend (who instead chose the rite ordinary) allegedly gang-abused a non-consenting girl. The only sentence uttered by the player after the sentence was: What should I say? I’m innocent…. Yet, the sentence imposed on him in the first instance would say otherwise. A sentence that arrived in a not excessively long time, the result – in fact – of the decision to opt for the abbreviated procedure. A decision, this, taken by mutual agreement between Portanova and his lawyer, Gabriele Bordoni, precisely in order not to dilate the timing and not expose the player to media trials.

There are not many certainties in this story. But some yes: Manolo Portanova, until he is convicted in the last degree (the third), will be able to train with his teammates, be called up for matches and even possibly play them. On Sunday 4 December — two days after the trial — the former Juventus midfielder played 58 minutes in the Grifone’s home defeat against Cittadella which cost the former coach Blessin the bench. Then on Tuesday 6 December, Portanova asked for and obtained leave from Genoa to attend the trial in the court of Siena and today (7 December) returned to Pegli to train under the orders of the new coach Alberto Gilardino.

In all this time, the rossobl club has never expressed itself on the story involving one of its members: a strong and decisive choice, made both because Portanova cannot be considered guilty up to the third degree of judgment (in Italy there is the presumption of innocence , a legal principle according to which a defendant is not considered guilty until the opposite is proven – since it is only a question of the first degree of judgment, the presumption of innocence is valid until the end of the definitive sentence, therefore in the third degree), both because the legal aspects linked to a hypothetical unilateral termination or suspension should be carefully evaluated on the basis of the definition of a possible conviction. Now, the expectation mainly concerns Bordoni, Portanova’s lawyer, who within the next month and a half will be able to know the reasons for the sentence in order to study a (more than probable) appeal in the Appealor. To put an end to all the aspects of the question, timescales ranging between twelve and eighteen months are hypothesized, which certainly will not be easy for anyone.