Xuxas case: Portuguese court accepts encrypted chats but excludes emails
On 23 July Portugal’s Supreme Court considered appeals by Rúben Oliveira, known as Xuxas, and six co-defendants. It rejected their challenges to EncroChat and Sky ECC messages. Nevertheless, the appealed judgment required reconsideration because separate emails taken from seized phones could not be used as evidence.
Rúben Oliveira, known as Xuxas, received a twenty-year sentence in a major Portuguese drug case in 2024. He and six co-defendants challenged the Lisbon appeal court’s judgment. The Supremo Tribunal de Justiça ruled on their objections on 23 July 2026.
The Court accepted the EncroChat and Sky ECC material in this case. It had been obtained under French judicial supervision and transferred to Portugal through a European Investigation Order. The Court found this complied with European and Portuguese law.
A different part of the digital evidence failed: emails from three seized phones. An investigating judge should have been the first to examine them and decide on their use. That had not happened. Evidence dependent on those prohibited emails must also be disregarded.
The appealed judgment therefore required reconsideration for all seven appellants, while the Supreme Court’s other decisions remained intact.
