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In a court ruling that has left many in
states of total disbelief, former PJ
detective Gonçalo Amaral has been
ordered to pay €500,000 in damages to
the parents of Madeleine McCann.
The long-running civil case for
defamation centring on Amaral’s book
‘The Truth of the Lie’ has finally “come
to an end”, Sky News reported on
Tuesday. But whether this is an end, or
simply yet another lurch in the tortuous
proceedings, remains to be seen.
“Mr Amaral, who led the (original)
police search for the girl, can appeal
the court’s ruling”, Sky concludes.
It is a verdict that has set social
media alight, with comments ranging from
“I love Gonçalo Amaral” to more
constructive pointers on how people can
donate to his legal fund.
While many are asking “how could this
have happened?”, Portuguese are
suggesting it “an outrageous sum” for a
country where people generally don’t
have that kind of money.
Added to the libel ‘win’, Amaral is
understood to be facing legal charges of
another €106,000.
“The court court also prohibited any
more sales of the books and gave the
publisher (Guerra e Paz) 60 days to
return all existing copies”, Sky
continued, adding that the makers of the
TV documentary based on the book are now
prohibited from selling any more copies
of their film.
It is a far cry from the news published
both in Portugal and UK in January
hinting that Judge Emília Melo e
Castro's “reading of the proven facts”
suggested that an outright court win for
the McCanns was “unlikely”.
British tabloid The Daily Express ran
(belatedly) with the headline
“Exclusive: McCanns will lose £1 million
libel trial”.
Key points in the McCanns’ case were
listed as “not proven”.
Even Amaral agreed he was cautiously
optimistic.
But then came the long wait for the
final verdict, and finally Tuesday’s
bombshell that despite all the McCanns’
claims “not proved”, Amaral was
considered to have “caused harm” to
Madeleine’s parents to the extent that
both are due compensation of €250,000.
Even more baffling is the fact that his
book has once again been “banned”. A ban
was overturned in October 2010 by
Lisbon’s appeal court and though the
McCann couple appealed, their appeal was
overruled by the Supreme Court of
Justice in 2011.
It cannot be without irony that
Tuesday’s announcement has been timed to
coincide almost to the day with the 8th
anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance
from a rental apartment in Praia da Luz.
Contacted for his thoughts on the
ruling, Amaral told the Resident:
“We are in the face of a mere battle in
a war that is far from over.” |
