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The Lisbon appeal court last April
struck down a 2015 lower court ruling
that Amaral should pay the sum to Kate
and Gerry McCann for damages caused by
the publication of his book: ‘Maddie:
the Truth of the Lie’.
In the book, the former inspector
suggested that the child’s parents were
involved in her disappearance.
According to a Supreme Court official,
the decision upholds the reasoning on
which the appeal court based its
decision to revoke the award of damages,
stating that: “In a situation of
conflict between the right to honour and
the right to freedom of expression, the
criterion of weighing of interests,
acting according to the principle of
proportionality and the specificity of
the case, points in the direction of its
being the freedom of expression of ...
[Gonçalo Amaral] being deserving of
greater protection.”
The latest ruling also means that the
appeal court’s decision to quash the
earlier ban on the sale of the book also
stands.
The lower court had also banned the sale
of new editions of the book, as well as
new editions of a DVD of a film based on
it, as well as the marketing of the
rights of the book and DVD.
Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May
2007, just short of her fourth birthday,
from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, where
the family was on holiday.
The criminal investigation was shelved
in July the following year, with the
investigating magistrate stating that
the little girl was most probably dead.
However, it was subsequently reopened
after UK police opened their own
investigation into the case, at the
urging of the then government and the
case remains open in both countries. |
