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Three witnesses chosen by the McCann
couple were today heard at the beginning
of the civil trial, for defamation,
against ex – PJ inspector Gonçalo
Amaral, following action brought by the
parents of the English girl missing from
the Algarve since 2007.
The information was given to the Lusa
Press Agency by Isabel Duarte, lawyer
for Madeleine McCann’s parents, on the
first day of the trial during which the
Judge Maria Emília Melo e Castro decided
that there was no reason for the trial
to be conducted behind closed doors, as
had been requested by Gonçalo Amaral,
who was present as an arguido in the
Lisbon Civil Court.
Following the previous failure of the
parties to reach an out of court
settlement for the civil action, in
which Madeleine McCann’s parents were
requesting compensation of 1.2 million
euros for alleged defamation by the PJ
ex – inspector (who investigated the
girl’s disappearance), the trial began
with the questioning of three witnesses
– a Canadian and two English persons -,
“friends” of the McCann couple.
During this first session, the judge had
to adapt the trial to the rules of the
new Civil Court Code, a legal reform
that entered into being on 1st
September.
The trial continues on Friday with the
questioning of five more witnesses for
Madeleine’s parents, three of them being
members of the McCann couple’s family.
In statements made to Lusa, Isabel
Duarte says that, from the beginning,
the McCann couple has always been open
to an out of court settlement with
Gonçalo Amaral, but that it was not
possible to reach an agreement with the
arguido.
However, she emphasised that the main
objective of the McCann couple was that
the investigation into the disappearance
of the girl should be re-opened, which
according to Duarte, has already been
made concrete, without providing any
details or other clues.
In a related case, the 7th Civil Court
of Lisbon decided in January 2010, to
uphold the ban on the sale of the book
"Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira", written
by Gonçalo Amaral, as well as the video
with the same title, based upon
documentary by TVI.
The ban of the book and the video, which
present Amaral’s thesis about Kate and
Gerry McCann’s involvement in their
daughter’s disappearance with the hiding
of her body, was ruled temporarily on
9th September 2009.
On 19th October 2010, the Lisbon Court
of Appeal annulled the 7th Civil Court’s
decision, after which the McCann couple
appealed to the Supreme Court of
Justice. In its decision of the 18th
March 2011, the Supreme Court confirmed
the decision of the Court of Appeal.
Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3rd may
2007, from an apartment in a resort in
Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, where she
was on holiday with her parents and twin
siblings.
At the time of the disappearance,
Gonçalo Amaral was the coordinator of
the Criminal Investigation Department of
the Portimão PJ.
Kate and Gerry McCann, who have always
claimed that the girl was abducted, were
made arguidos in September 2007.
The case was shelved due to lack of
evidence in July 2008, the Public
Ministry would allow the re-opening of
the case if new facts about the girl’s
disappearance emerge. |
