Thursday 18 February 2010

Gonçalo Amaral's book is still available outside Portugal.

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The current ban, as upheld by the Portuguese court in Lisbon, applies only to Portugal. You can read the book in English on this blog and you can also order it in French from FNAC online

"The child Madeleine McCann died in apartment 5A of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007 An abduction was simulated"

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This morning, the judge who presided over the recent hearings in the process concerning the temporary injunction on Dr Gonçalo Amaral's book, presented her decision that the injunction was upheld.

The McCanns' contention is that by expressing the opinion that Madeleine McCann died in apartment 5A, the McCanns were being libeled and that, believing she was dead, people would stop looking for Madeleine.

Dr Amaral's contention is that his book is based on the investigation, that his narrative is an account of the work done by the joint English and Portuguese investigating teams, is not his personal opinion, and cannot be libelous.

So, is this in the police files or not? The title of this post is copied and pasted directly from the files.

In a report dated September 10th 2007, from Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida to Gonçalo Amaral, who was leading the investigation, and recorded as part of the police files which are in the public domain, we read:

"Conclusions of a report compiled by chief inspector Tavares de Almeida, for the attention of the Criminal Investigation Coordinator, 10 September 2007."

(PJ Files: page 2601, vol. X, of process NUIPC-201/07.0 GALGS)

"(…) From all that was presented, the process results in the following:

a) the child Madeleine McCann died in apartment 5A of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007;

b) an abduction was simulated;

c) in order to make the child's death impossible before 10 p.m., a situation of checking the McCann couple's children while they slept, was made up;

d) Kate McCann and Gerald McCann are involved in the concealment of the cadaver of their daughter, Madeleine McCann;

e) at this moment, there seem to be no strong indications yet, that the child's death didn't result from a tragic accident;

f) from what was established until now, everything indicates that the McCann couple, in self defence, don't want to hand the cadaver over in an immediate and voluntary manner, and there is a strong probability that said cadaver was moved from its initial location. This situation is susceptible of raising questions about the circumstances under which the child's death happened." (The McCann Files Translation by Astro.)

And so, I find it quite perplexing that the temporary injunction on "The Truth of the Lie," has been upheld and I hope that the explanation for the judge's decision is available soon.

(Note: the above image is by "Himself," at The McCann Gallery )