McCanns make Luz return
19/12/2009
The parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann paid a brief visit to the resort where she was last seen alive over the weekend. The trip followed the postponement of a scheduled court hearing in Lisbon relating to a libel case involving former police detective Gonçalo Amaral.
The hearing was postponed until January after Gonçalo Amaral’s lawyer was unable to attend due to illness.
Kate and Gerry McCann and Gonçalo Amaral were at the court, despite not being compelled to do so as it is a civil case.
It was also the first occasion the former detective and Madeleine’s parents had come face-to-face since they were famously declared arguidos back in September 2007.
Mr Amaral had called on six witnesses, all of whom are current or former PJ police detectives, to appear in his defence, though only inspector Tavares de Almeida was present.
Prior to entering the court room last Friday, Gonçalo Amaral told the multitude of journalists gathered outside the building that “Portugal is a country with freedom of expression.”
“Portugal has been a free country since April 25 [1974] and I cannot be incriminated for writing a book. There were others who also wrote a book”, he explained, adding he counted on the cooperation of his former PJ colleagues during the trial.
Around a 100 members of the Projecto Justiça group had also gathered at the court house, wearing t-shirts reading: ‘Liberdade de Expressão’, or Freedom of Expression. They also handed out red carnations, a symbol of Portugal’s peaceful revolution in 1974 that resulted in the overthrow of a fascist dictatorship.
Kate McCann accepted one of the carnations handed out by the group.
The McCann family initiated proceedings against Gonçalo Amaral earlier this year over the contents of his controversial book ‘Maddie – The Truth of the Lie’.
They are also seeking that the book be banned for good.
Published in 2008, Gonçalo Amaral’s book is currently unavailable, having been removed from shelves following an injunction imposed earlier this year, on September 9th, as the result of opposition from the McCann family. On Tuesday, he launched his second book – ‘The English Gag’ – which is being published by a Spanish editor and is aimed at “all those who want to silence him”.
The book reportedly recounts Gonçalo Amaral’s day-to-day life since working on the Madeleine McCann case and includes passages on such topics as his leaving the police force; his role in the Leonor Cipriano case and the effects of the McCann’s injunction on the sale of his book ‘Maddie – The Truth of the Lie’.
Amaral’s first book is based on his conclusions reached from investigations that at one point he headed. One of the most controversial conclusions is the ex-inspector’s indication that Madeleine’s parents were in some way involved in her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann, who are being represented by Isabel Duarte, allege that Gonçalo Amaral’s theories, which are published in the book and in a video based on the book, are in their opinion, unsustainable.
The family therefore asked that the book and the video, which were released after a documentary broadcast on Portuguese TV channel TVI, be removed – albeit temporarily – from the market.
Also named in the litigation is publisher ‘Guerra & Paz’, Production Company Valentim de Carvalho, and TVI, for divulging Gonçalo Amaral’s theory that the parents were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.
The McCanns are requesting the protection of their rights and freedoms, as well as having instigated a second course of legal action against the former police chief in which they claim he made ‘defamatory declarations’ for which the family is asking compensation of at least €1.2 million.
According to the McCann family’s British lawyer, Ed Smethurst, the couple claim Amaral made ‘continuous and damaging’ statements, in Portugal and abroad, about the child’s disappearance.
Gonçalo Amaral is accused of having profited by “obscene amounts of money for selling his theory via his book and in interviews”, as well as having damaged “donations, new leads, investigations, information and witnesses” relating to Madeleine’s disappearance.
The action against Amaral was filed by Kate and Gerry McCann, along with Madeleine and her twin siblings, Sean and Amelie.
The McCanns have so far received around €700,000 in damages from British newspapers, though Gerry McCann told The Portugal News back in April that he believed the cash in the Find Madeleine Fund will have run dry by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, and following the postponement of court proceedings last Friday, Kate and Gerry travelled to Praia da Luz where they stayed during the weekend.
Kate, who was on her first visit to Praia da Luz in over two years, released a statement from the resort on Saturday evening in which she spoke of the litigation and their trip to the Algarve.
“I have longed to come back here for two years for personal and emotional reasons. Early Saturday morning, we went to the lovely little church of Nossa Senhora da Luz. It was so quiet and peaceful - a real sanctuary.
“Although our pain feels much rawer here, it is comforting at the same time since we feel closer to Madeleine. We then walked down to the rocks on the beach, with its crashing waves and sense of vastness and freedom - another place where I’ve always felt able to reach out to Madeleine and find a little solace.”
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