EU Justice Ministers analyse the "Abduction Alert"

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27/11/08

During the latest Council of Justice and Interior Affairs under the French Presidency, which will take place this Friday in Brussels, the Justice Ministers of the European Union will analyse the conclusions of child abduction alert exercises, carried out during the year, in order to encourage all member States to adopt similar systems to that of France, which could be triggered either side of a frontier.

On the occasion of the informal meeting of ministers responsible for justice and internal affairs, in Cannes in July 2008, the French Presidency had already stressed the need to share systems for "reponse" in cases of child abduction. The results obtained in France, as well as in shared exercises organised between member states, have shown the importance and the value of the system.

In July 2008, the Presidency had presented a film to all the ministers, recounting a cross-border child abduction exercise enacted a month earlier with Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Czech authorities accompanied the exercise as observers.

On the initiative of France, the United Kingdom, which had not wished to participate in the first exercise within the framework of the Abduction Alert, was involved in a second exercise, enacted on November 12th, in order to check the coordination of work by the authorities and services responsible for investigations in cases of abduction of a minor either side of the channel.

According to the French gendarmerie, who organised this simulation, the French-British "Abduction Alert" lasted for nearly seven hours.

Even before the start of the French Presidency, Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister, and Franco Frattini, then Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the area of "Liberty, Security and Justice," had already shown their wish for the abduction alert to become "a European system."

An alert system for missing children has been a European priority since 2006.

In December 2006, an extraordinary meeting of the member States approved a European Commission's initiative reserving telephone numbers beginning with 116 in all member States "for social services", including the number 116 000, to become "an emergency call number for helping find missing children." In February 2007, the Commission officially adopted the decision "reserving the telephone number 116 000 in all member States as the emergency call number for carrying information about missing children."

In January 2008, after several years of work in this direction, 630 of the 718 deputies present in Strasbourg who had already adopted the European strategy on the subject of children's rights, approved the establishment of a European alert system in cases of abduction, as well as the setting up of a helpline telephone number for children, a measure proposed in 2006, but which certain member States have not yet put into action.

The document approved by the parliament goes further, because the deputies "strongly recommend a European strategy against paedophile tourism and the establishment of a single body for cross-border criminal law, applicable across the Union" which would allow perpetrators of sexual crimes to be pursued across Europe.

Operation abduction alert: the French example.

Since its creation in 2006, the French system, known as Abduction Alert, has allowed the very rapid broadcast to the population throughout the national territory, of clear information relating to abduction in order to elicit witness statements likely to help the prompt freeing of the victim.

In the hours following the notification of a disappearance, the decision to launch the "abduction alert" plan is taken by the Prosecutor of the Republic in close consultation with the investigators and only after consulting the Justice Minister.

Four criteria, however, must be met for the plan to be launched: it must be a proven abduction, and not simply a disappearance, although worrying; the life of the physical safety of the victim must be at risk; the Prosecutor of the Republic is in possession of information, the broadcasting of which would allow the child or the suspect to be located; and the victim must be a minor.

The alert message, indicating a single telephone number, is broadcast for three hours by different carriers: television channels, radio stations, press agencies, continuous message boards on motorways, public address messages in railway and metro stations, internet sites and victims' associations.

Misinformation or manipulation ?

Under the heading "EU discusses a Madeleine alert system," the Press association today announces that one more step will be taken this Friday towards the creation of a European Alert system, because, according to them, the subject was allegedly brought up "after Madeleine McCann's disappearance in Portugal last year and the idea for an alert system was defended by her parents, Kate and Gerry."

Again, according to the Press Association. the European Parliament, thanks to Madeleine's disappearance, now accepts the magnitude of the problem...this in spite of the work carried out for years by the parliament and the Commission and which culminated in the approved initiatives and strategies.

With an estimated population of 61 million, the United Kingdom announced the figure of 140,000 missing children, being an average of 383 a day, but it took Madeleine McCann's disappearance for the British government and the EU to take account of the magnitude of the problem...As a matter of curiosity, during the same period, Belgium, with its 10.5 million inhabitants, unfortunately experienced 8 disappearances a day.

The Press Association states that the French Abduction alert system works well, that of Belgium is identical, but "less well established", while the United Kingdom relies on the effective system of communication between 53 police forces, charities and voluntary groups....Therefore, go find the mistake.

Duarte Levy.

(See links to four other articles on this subject on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site, where there is also a video recounting how the abduction simulation exercise was carried out between several member States earlier this year.)

Portuguese and British authorities discuss Freeport and the Madeleine McCann case. Updated

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According to a source close to the Foreign Office and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office, the British authorities recently approached the follow-up business of the Madeleine McCann case and Freeport of Alcochete in the course of the same meeting.

The information was meanwhile confirmed by a source from the PJ in Portugal, who also puts forward the accusation of, "doing favours for each other," allegedly being envisaged during this contact between the two countries.

While the "Maddie" case, as it is best known, concerns the disappearance of a little three year-old girl and the protection afforded her parents by the British authorities, notably by direct interference by diplomats and Gordon Brown's government, the Freeport case, according to the latest information, concerns the transfer of money from United Kingdom accounts to Portuguese political personalities and questions raised about the construction of this large commercial area in Alcochete.

SOS Madeleine McCann: 21/10/08

Update:

Both cases are embarrassing and Lisbon and London would like, above all else, to avoid the details falling into the public domain: the British would like to avoid the role played by the authorities in the McCann case being known, while the Portuguese no longer want to hear talk about suspicions of corruption which could affect the government and in particular the socialist José Sócrates.

Freeport: a disturbing case.

The announcement by the British authorities, about the existence of offshore English bank accounts belonging to companies directly or indirectly linked to Portugal and the case known as Freeport Alcochete, has just revived a case of alleged corruption which the Portuguese government would like to see forgotten and which the authorities in London, at least publicly, would like to see investigated by a joint team.

According to the British, significant sums of money were sent to a group of lawyers in Lisbon acting as financial intermediaries on behalf of various Portuguese personalities.

Meanwhile, a formal meeting between the Portuguese and British was on the investigators' agenda but, according to a source close to the Public Minister, no agreement seems possible because, officially, the Lisbon authorities are still waiting for the results of a rogatory letter sent to the Home Office in 2005 and which, to this day, has obtained no response.

In any case, the matter has not been buried and allegations are flying in both directions between London and Lisbon accusing the English company, Freeport, of having paid "kickbacks" to personalities in the Portuguese world of politics in order to obtain the necessary permission to build the Freeport Alcochete commercial complex on land belonging to the Nature Reserve of the Tejo estuary, the river that borders Lisbon, where the natural habitat of a great number of endangered species is to be found.

The case goes back to 2005 when, in the middle of the election campaign, accusations of corruption were launched against José Sócrates, then candidate for the Socialist Party (PS) and current Prime Minister. After an investigation, initially directed against the press, responsible for disclosure of the matter, the trial judge ended up sentencing a former PJ inspector, José Torrão, to an 18 months suspended sentence for disclosure of confidential documents. According to the judge, Torrão had committed a crime of violation of official secrets in illegally photocopying internal PJ documents before giving them to the Portuguese press, notably the daily "O Independente."

The former PJ inspector's sentence has, meanwhile, been confirmed by the Lisbon Appeal Court, thus frustrating the Justice Minister who was calling for a retrial in consideration of the crime in question not allowing the use of data from detailed billing and the tracking of mobile phones as evidence.

Now, as was the case with the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, the British authorities have requested that a joint team be set up in order to follow up the investigation. An idea that does not appeal to the Portuguese legal administration and which has allegedly already led the Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, to refuse the proposition.

According to a source from the Public Ministry in Lisbon, after the really bad experiences with the British government around the Madeleine McCann case, the Portuguese authorities would like to keep more efective control over the investigation. In Portugal, an investigation had already been entrusted to the Setubal PJ, under the supervision of the Prosecutor for the Montijo Public Ministry, but had not produced the expected results and now the case is in the hands of Cândida Almeida, head of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Activity. (DCIAP)

SOS Madeleine McCann

The McCann case: anomalies in the case file.

Enfants Kidnappés

22/11/08

Since a small part of the case file - the DVD version was made accessible to the public, a great deal of ink has flowed. We note that it is necessary to be cautious as to its contents. In fact, it is only 17% of the complete case file and certain details are only of interest in relation to the complete file and not taken out of their context.

You probably know that our team, at the association, is comprised mainly of professionals from the field of police work. As such, we have analysed the case file and from the first pages, we have identified a few anomalies. Thus, the registers from the Kids Club appeared to be incomplete. Certain gaps have not been explained.

Thus we note that on May 1st 2007, Madeleine McCann's name is on the Kids Club regsiter. She arrived at 9.30am, dropped off by Gerry. According to the register, Gerry spent the morning playing tennis. He went back to fetch Madeleine at 12.20pm. Where things seem stranger to us is in the entries for the afternoon. Gerry drops Madeleine off at the Kids Club at 2.30pm and he spends his afternoon, again according to the register, playing tennis and at the swimming pool. Oddly, no one went back to fetch Madeleine in the evening! No signature for the evening of May 1st 2007. Why? Why did no one sign the register that evening?

Various explanations are possible.

It could be imagined that the parents arrived late to pick up Madeleine and that they didn't take the time to sign the register. In that case, why isn't that made clear in the case file? Why is there no mention of this possible lateness? And above all, why were they late? Right in the middle of an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a little four year-old girl, these details are important. But the anomalies continue the following day.

According to the register for May 2nd 2007, the day before Madeleine's disappearance, Kate dropped Maddie off at the Kids Club at 9.20am. Madeleine was picked up at 12.30pm but it's not Kate or Gerry's signature on the register. Someone else has signed the register in the space for parents. The signature of Cat nanny, in other words, CATRIONA BAKER is found there.

Here too, you could imagine various explanations. The parents arrived late (once again?) and in a hurry (why?), they didn't sign the register. You could think that they forgot, for the second time, to sign the register. You could imagine that Catriona had finished her shift and as the parents had not yet come to fetch Maddie, Catriona signed the register then took Madeleine to her parents. You could imagine lots of things. But no explanation is provided in the case file. Catriona didn't mention it in her interview, the parents neither. But this kind of detail raises questions that need to be resolved. Too many unanswered questions, too many whys, too many gaps, not enough explanation.

These explanations could go in both directions. Thus, the investigators must wonder if Maddie didn't disappear sooner than May 3rd? If she was indeed present present at the Kids Club on the afternoon of May 1st? Why didn't anyone sign the register? Was she actually present at the Kids Club on the morning of May 2nd? Why did Catriona sign in the space for parents? Why does Kate's signature on the register for May 2nd seem different from Kate's other signatures? Where were the parents if someone else signed for them?

Certainly, these anomalies may only be trivial details, but these details could equally be significant, even fundamental to the investigation. Don't forget we are talking about the disappearance of a little four year-old girl. We cannot allow ourselves to leave these questions unanswered.

These anomalies, which are the first of a long series, were communicate to whom they may concern. And it is in referring to the article on SOS Madeleine of November 19th, we discover that a hand-writing report would be necessary. This confirms our suspicions and implicitly confirms certain rumours mentioning forged pieces of writing, forged signatures....manipulated documents...signatures added several days after the date indicated...etc.

If this report, that SOS Madeleine speaks of, confirms our our suspicions (and the rumours) these details which we have officially revealed, are then clearly less "trivial" !!!!

International Day for the Rights of The Child and Janusz Korczak

Remembering the "father" of children's rights.

In Poland, before the war, Janusz Korczak was the most well-known and the most respected scientific personality in the field of childhood. Paediatric doctor, he was already known as a friend and protector of children. It was for them that he became a writer.

He entered the history books on the day of his deportation to the Treblinka extermination camp, with children of the Warsaw ghetto whom he had not wanted to abandon.

"The fact that Korczak voluntarily gave up his life for his beliefs speaks of the greatness of the man. But that is unimportant compared to the strength of his message," the writer and psychoanalyist, Bruno Bettelheim, said.

Korczak is considered to be the envoy for children's rights, because, from the beginning of the century, he worked for a complete overhaul of education and the status of the child, on totally new constitutional foundations, emphasising the protection of and absolute respect for children.

Even today, his writings for children and adults (How to love a child, King Mathias I) his radio broadcasts or his national newspaper are priceless references that have brought joy to entire generations of young Polish people.

More important still are the two model orphanages he founded and organised as children's republics: Dom Sierot (1912) and Nasz Dom (1919).

As much an artist as a scientist and dedicated clinician, he embodied the true principles of respect, a school of democracy and participation which today constitute a generally accepted benchmark.

Janusz Korczak himself is increasingly viewed as the forerunner of formal education and of "person-centred education". This is not the case (through misunderstanding undoubtedly..) but he might just the same be recognised as a "person-centred teacher", alongside Paul Robin, Sébastien Faure and Francisco Ferrer (1859 -1908), Spanish anarchist who, with Korczak, remains the only teacher to have been killed for his ideas (for the latter in putting them into action to the point of not seeking to flee from the Warsaw ghetto).

In the field of children's rights, he is also the recognised forerunner of putting the positive rights of children into practice (rights of expression, of participation, of association, etc) officially established on November 20th 1989 by articles 12 to 17 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, a major political text and act, the development of which was demanded from the end of the 19th century.

The International Convention on the Rights of the Child is a text of 54 articles, adopted by the United Nations on November 20th 1989. It states that a child is not just a fragile being who must be protected but is a person who has the right to be educated, cared for, protected, wherever he is born in the world. And also that he has the right to have fun, to learn and to express himself. It was ratified by 191 out of 193 countries. Only Somalia and the United States refused to commit themselves.

This text is very important but not enough: there is still much to do to make the rights of children a reality. Rights are only real as far as they are put into practice, for children as for everyone. To promote children's rights, first of all create the social, economic and cultural conditions to make them accessible to all. Such is the price for the rights of the child to be truly respected.

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20/11/08

Madeleine McCann - at what time did she disappear?

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By Duarte Levy with H.C. and P.R.

At what time did Madeleine disappear?

After nearly 18 months have passed since Madeleine McCann's disappearance, it seems that still no one knows exactly at what time the little British girl disappeared or even left the Ocean Club crèche and the police have to content themselves with several witness statements, often vague and clashing, but also with pages of the register of the children's arrivals and departures, a document maintained by the "nannies" employed by Mark Warner, often young people without any previous reference, except for the fact that they are British.

Catriona Baker, the "nanny" responsible for Maddie, was questioned several times by the Portuguese and British authorities, but, by coincidence, she was the only one not to have gone out with her coleagues on the night of the little girl's disappearance. She participated in the search on the night of the disappearance, but - still according to her statements - she never saw Kate of Gerry McCann while she was looking for Maddie.

Re-interviewed at the request of the Portiguese authorities in April 2008, and after having consulted her previous statements - which the British police gave her to refresh her memory - the "nanny" explains that the normal procedure adopted by Mark Warner was for parents to sign the attendance log when the children arrived and left. "The log includes space for the name of the child, the time and the parents' signature," Catriona Baker stresses.

According to a preliminary report prepared by experts, several documents contained in the investigation's records merit further detailed analysis, amongst them the pages of the Kids Club's register where, to give an example, there is the signature of a "nanny" in the space provided for that of parents. According to this report, a handwriting expert would even be necessary.

(Images of pages from the attendance register can be found on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site)

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Léonor Cipriano - doctor states that the photos do not correspond to the injuries.

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18/11/08

The Léonor Cipriano case: the sound does not match the picture.

According to the doctor at the Odemira Health Centre, where Léonor Cipriano had been examined a few hours after the alleged assaults by PJ inspectors, the details he recorded at the time of the examination do not match the bruises seen in the photos presented to the court in Faro.

The resumption of the trial of the five PJ inspectors, accused of acts of torture against Léonor Cipriano, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for her daughter Joana's death, has thus been marked by a new witness statement that calls into question the authenticity of the photos.

"What I saw was a single, very heavy knock, to the right side," the doctor stated, stressing that it would be possible for the bruises to the left side of the face to have been done before his examination. According to the explanation given to the doctor by Léonor, the presenting injuries to her face at the time of the examination were caused by a deliberate fall down the stairs, after her interrogation.

This is not the first time that the authenticity of the photos, taken at the prison, has been called into question, because they show a Léonor Cipriano with bruises to both sides of her face, in particular to her eyes.

A digital analysis, carried out by legal experts at the request of the inspectors' defence, had already stressed the lack of reliability of the photos. Their low resolution, the absence of date or time, rendered complex analysis impossible.

Léonor was beaten in the prison itself and not by the PJ

A former cell-mate of Léonor Cipriano, in statements exclusive to this blog, had already confirmed that LéonorCipriano was indeed assaulted in the prison after her return from interrogations by the PJ.

"The bruises on Léonor Cipriano's face were not done by the inspectors (of the PJ) ..she was well pasted in the prison after she arrived. In prison nobody likes child killers," this former cell-mate of Joana's mother confirmed, about the assault within the prison, stressing that there were never so many bruises on Léonor's face or body, thus contradicting the authenticity of the photos.

A former chief prison guard had already come to the witness box to indicate unusual behaviour from the director of the prison, Ana Maria Calado, verging on a strange relationship with Léonor. The prison governor had then allegedly suggested that he change a written report about a few red marks on Léonor's face when she returned from her interrogation with the PJ. In the same report, also gave account of Joana's mother's explanation about her bruises: according to her the red marks were indeed the result of falling down the stairs after her interrogation.

Today, at the request of the defence lawyers for the five PJ inspectors, the presiding judge agreed not to hear the witness statement of the prison director, Ana Maria Calado. According to Me António Pragal Colaço, representing four of the five inspectors, the request is based on the existence if evidence that the director of Odemira prison, Ana Maria Calado, would not be a credible and impartial witness.

A letter from a cell-mate, addressed to the authorities after the accusations made about the inspectors, reinforces this version: according to this witness, Joana's mother had admitted to her cell-mates that she had fallen down the stairs, but that, after a meeting with the prison director, she had changed her version stating having been tortured and that she was counting on pocketing compensation.

A trial mainly targeting Gonçalo Amaral

Marcos Aragão Correia, Léonor Cipriano's lawyer, now claims that the Public Minister is authorising the opening of separate proceedings against the former inspector, Gonçalo Amaral. According to the lawyer, the former coordinator of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, would be "the main perpetrator" of the alleged assaults on his client. In statements to journalists as he left the court room, the lawyer, known for his connection to the Madeleine McCann case, indicated that the indictment was incomplete as long as Amaral was not being tried as main perpetrator and punished for the alleged acts of torture.

Five PJ inspectors are before the court in Faro, accused by the Public Minister (MP) of various crimes: Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Portimão Department of Criminal Investigation, is accused of not having denounced the alleged assaults; Leonel Lopes, Pereira Cristóvão and Marques Bonne, are accused of having tortured Léonor Cipriano in order to obtain a confession, while inspector Nunes Cardoso is accused of falsification of documents.

Marcos Aragão Correia, who had already admitted taking up the Léonor Cipriano case at the request of the Spanish detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann - which Metodo 3 however denied - continues to particularly target Gonçalo Amaral in a trial where no one exactly understands what the role of the former coordinator into Madeleine McCann's disappearance would be.

The alleged assaults took place in 2004, but it was only in February 2008 that the court decided that Gonçalo Amaral would also be tried alongside the other four inspectors, this in spite of the fact that LéonorCipriano had always asserted that the former head of the PJ was not present at the time of the events.

SOS Madeleine McCann

18/11/08

Enfants Kidnappés 17/11/08 - Are Kate and Gerry McCann innocent or guilty?

Forged pieces of writing and death threats.

This is the question we should be asking at this stage. To answer it, we must ask another essential question: Was Maddie abducted or not? If to legal professionals, who have followed this case closely from the start, it was very quickly evident, as well as to the PJ, that over time, the theory of abduction became less and less plausible, the facts revealed by SOS Madeleine McCann on November 11th have dealt a death blow to the theory of kidnapping.

This is also the admission of one of the detectives of the Spanish agency Metodo3, hired by the McCann parents to find Madeleine, who we learn were not hired to find Madeleine but indeed to direct public opinion (and perhaps the PJ) towards Spain or Morocco, the purpose being to manipulate the media and the public by inventing false leads in both these countries also causing the slowing down of the investigation. (The PJ had to check out these many false leads every time.) Thus, journalists were invited to interview "witnesses" paid by the said agency to say they had seen Madeleine. If these revelations are true, and there is no reason to doubt them, we can, in any case, bring doubt to bear on all of the statements of many of the witnesses who stated having seen Madeleine. Above all concerning witnesses who happened by chance, at some time, to have a connection with the McCann family, notably via the Netherlands.

Abducted or died?

Another question comes to mind: Why weren't the detectives hired to find Madeleine, contrary to what was shouted loudly and clearly by parents broken down by the "abduction" of their much loved little girl? Why did the parents hire detectives to put on a huge media show and slow down the ongoing investigation instead of finding their little girl? The only plausible answer to that question, is that the parents knew perfectly well that Madeleine was not abducted. But, then, what has become of Madeleine? Still on the basis of the truth of statements from SOS Madeleine, there too, the only answer that comes to mind is: the death of the little girl. This hypothesis is the one which has the most consistency and is the track maintained by the PJ investigators in agreement with their British counterparts.

So, guilty or innocent?

If Madeleine died, which seems to be so obvious as to be the truth, it happened by accident. The little girl's parents are not cold-bloodied killers. Two hypothesis are held. The first is death following an overdose ofCalpol , of which the proportion of sedative is more significant in Portugal than in the UK. Maddie allegedly awoke in a semi-conscious state, allegedly stumbled, banged herself violently and died of her injuries. Another suggested hypothesis and which largely takes precedence, is the theory according to which Kate allegedly argued with Madeleine. During this argument, Kate allegedly made an unfortunate move, Madeleine was knocked against an edge or a corner of a piece of furniture, she bled profusely and died quickly. ( whiplash in banging herself for example).

In short, a terrible tragedy for the parents. In both cases the parents are facing a few years in prison. Be it for manslaughter, in the first instance: be it for "involuntary blows and injuries causing death without the intention to do so," in the second case. With a major difference with regards to Portugal: in the eyes of the law, if there was negligence towards the child, the couple's other children would be immediately placed with Portuguese social services WITH NO possibility of their being returned to their British family!!! It was clear that as well as the misfortune and pain of losing Madeleine, it was urgent to protect the twins. Also, a member close to Gerry, being the main "financial backer" of the British Prime Minister's political party, was contacted on the same evening as Madeleine's "disappearance" by Kate (on her own admission), Then the media, via sky News, helped to launch an unprecedented media machine at the moment when the PJ's director received, in the middle of his dinner in Lisbon, a call on his mobile phone from the British embassy informing him of the disappearance of a little British girl while the local police were not yet on the spot! In the parents' place, in the same situation, with the connections they have, would we not have done the same thing to protect our two other children?

Was there fraud?

Continuing to refer to the revelations by the detective from the Spanish agency hired by the McCanns, in the eyes of the law, yes there is fraud! Fraud in the creation of a fund to find Madeleine of which the money was mainly used to pay detectives who admit never having been hired to find Madeleine. 50,000 euors a month to divert attention from the investigation. Emotional fraud and that is, surely, the most serious. All those people who thought of themselves in solidarity, affected by Maddie's disappearance,pouring money into a fund which would help to find her. We all fell into the trap.

Ourselves, here, at the association, we cried, like you, imagining that poor child, abducted, alone without her security blanket to comfort her, crying with all her heart, away from her parents, panicked....And those things more truly horrible of which we would not speak here but which justified the creation of our association. To begin with, it played on the heartstrings until we realised that the theory of abduction was becoming hardly defensible, not to mention that the parents didn't hesitate to attack various media and collect considerable sums in "damages" following what was written by them. But those famous words could have been the absolute truth!!!

A mole in the PJ.

SOS Madeleine revealed the presence of a mole in the PJ, informing the parents in advance of various investigative operations that the team in charge of the case were going to set up. It is more understandable why the parents were in the middle of washing Maddie's pink comfort blanket as well as other clothes in the washing machine just before the arrival of the inspectors to seize the comfort blanket and the clothes with a view to DNA analysis!!! We could add a long list of worrying details in the parents' attitude but which perfectly explain themselves when we know that a member of thePJ was advising them of what was going to happen! Is this the attitude of people who have nothing to hide?

Anomalies in the case file on DVD

For some time, a small part of the complete case file (5,000 out of 30,000 pages!!!) has been accessible to the public. We have published some it it here, noting that it is necessary to be careful in publishing its contents. In fact, this DVD is not complete and only represents around 17% of the total. Our association, like probably all the other professionals in the field of police work, detected anomalies in the case file. In fact, some documents appeared doubtful, seen as suspicious. Some signatures, annotations, drew our attention. We communicated the information to whom it may concern, to be sent back to Portugal. Following that, and even though we had been aware for several weeks, the journalist Duarte Levy, in statements, yesterday on Portuguese television, revealed that there were documents in the case file which had been tampered with and manipulated. It is there, neither more nor less than forged pieces of writing. No comment. So, be careful what you read on various forums.

Death threats!

At the start of the broadcast in which the journalist we spoke about above, Duarte Levy, was participating, the director of the Portuguese television channel informed the viewers that Mr Levy had just, at that moment, received death threats on his mobile phone following his latest revelations. These threats are being taken seriously. According to our information, the journalist received two different calls. One from Portugal and the other from the UK, both threatening to kill him! If the revelations made by SOS Madeleine are false, and as a result the parents have nothing to hide, why threaten to kill people? Why does the McCann clan brandish, at the slightest opportunity, a threatening finger towards anyone who would not say the same things as them? Why try to silence the press?

In conclusion.

If the revelations from SOS Madeleine concerning the Metodo3 detectives and the PJ mole are correct, it could be deduced that the parents were not innocent, that Madeleine was not abducted. That there is fraud. And above all that the hoax is in the process of being shot down - as proof the various death threats - and that the truth will, in the end, see the light of day!!!

Enfants Kidnappés 17/11/08

Canadian humanitarian worker sentenced to two years in prison for sexually abusing children.

Denis Rochefort, a humanitarian worker from Quebec, copped for two years in prison and three years of probation for having committed acts of sexual assault on minors in Haiti.

The 59 year-old man admitted his guilt this morning, at the Quebec hall of justice; the judge handed down sentence immediately.

Denis Rochefort sexually molested six teenagers living in an orphanage where he was teaching English. For three months, from December 2006 to March 2007, he engaged in sessions of masturbation on his victims.

The director of the orphanage lodged an unsuccessful complaint against Rochefort with the Haitian authroities.

The accusations were finally taken up following a second investigation led by the Canadian police with their Haitian colleagues.
It is the first time that someone from Quebec has been sentenced for sexual crimes committed abroad.
Denis Rochefort will undergo supervision during most of his period of probation.
During those three years, he will be forbidden to go to Haiti, to work with children and to use a computer to communicate.
He was also obliged by the court to provide a DNA sample and his name will be placed on a sexual offenders register for a period of 20 years. (Presse Canadienne)

Enfants Kidnappés

16/11/08

Denise Pipitone's mother Piera given award for courage.

Piera Maggio's, "war." A petition to support Piera Maggio, mother of Denise Pipitone, who disappeared on September 1st, four years ago, in her "war." This document is circulating on the Web. It introduces the, "Document of Trust." Promoted by the Let's Find Denise Association, it asks women and mothers for their moral support for activities in aid of children.

This document asks for the expression of an act of trust so that this is not only Piera's "war," but a battle for the right to a peaceful life for all children. The petition has been sent to more than 200 women's associations, amongst them professional, cultural and humanitarian groups. In Catane, last Sunday, Piera was awarded the special prize, the, "Maugeri-Amenano" Silver 2008 for the courage she has shown in the four years of searching for her daughter Denise.

Enfants Kidnappés 16/11/08

More about Denise can be found on the above web site.

Michel Fourniret: the Belgian victims will receive less compensation.

Enfants KIdnappés 16/11/08

The victims are not equal in the eyes of the law?!

The Belgian victims of Michel Fourniret will not receive the compensation planned by the Charleville-Mézières court of assizes because legislation on the subject of compensation is not the same in Belgium and France, RTL-TVI announced in its JT at 7pm.

In Belgium, in contrast to France, the surviving relatives of victims cannot obtain compensation. Further, compensation for victims is subject to a ceiling of 62,000 € for everyone. In the case of Joëlle Parfondry, who was subjected to attempted rape by Michel Fourniret in 1995, near Namur, and who had survived on the pretext of being pregnant, the French court had demanded 140,000 € in compensation.

62,000 € maximum

However, the Belgian funds for compensating victims can only give her a maximum of 62,000 €. As for her children and her husband, for whom the court had also anticipated compensation, they have no right to anything in Belgium. Fourniret's Belgian victims who thought they could turn over the page are going to have to prove that they well and truly suffered mental harm, with supportive evidence, because for the Belgian victims' compensation fund, the verdict of the court of assizes is not enough.

Also, this brings up the question of the difference in treatment between Belgian and French victims, RTL-TVI says. The Belgian civil parties have now instructed a lawyer to obtain their compensation. Me Isabelle de Moffarts hopes "that for compensation for the civil parties, account is taken of the extraordinary nature of the case and that a creative system can be found that allows the differences in national legislation to be overcome to offer all the civil parties in this trial equal treatment."

100,000 € for Joëlle Parfondry

The parents, brothers and sisters of seven young girls killed by Michel Fourniret, his surviving victims and their relatives saw themselves being awarded compensation for mental harm suffered. The magistrates of the court had awarded in general 75,000 euros for each father or mother of a dead victim, 50,000 euros for brothers or sisters, and between 7,500 and 40,000 euros, still under the heading of mental harm, depending on the severity of the consequences for the three young girls who escaped from Fourniret.

Joëlle Parfondry, should, for her part, also receive 100,000 euros under the heading of IPP (permanent partial disability). The arguments had, in fact, shown that she had suffered "extremely serious," shock.

Gonçalo Amaral's book, "Maddie: TheTruth of The Lie," close to UK publication.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

15/11/08

"Maddie's parents are on the edge of hysterics.

The announcement of the publication of Gonçalo Amaral's book, "Maddie: The Truth of The Lie," in the United Kingdom is worrying Kate and Gerry McCann who have already started to intimidate British publishing houses by threatening them with reprisals in court.

To be continued."

Today the Independent on Sunday reports on the negotiation of a deal with several interested UK publishers.

Independent on Sunday 16/11/08

"The book's publisher, Mario Sena Lopes, said there was now an English version of Mr Amaral's book and he was negotiating a UK deal. He said several publishers were interested and he was confident the British public would soon be able to read the book."

The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell is quoted by the Independent as saying:
"Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the McCanns, said last night: "Lawyers for Kate and Gerry have been aware of what Mr Amaral has been alleging for some time. What he has said and written before now is grossly defamatory of them.

"If he chooses to publish them in Britain those words will be studied intensely carefully and they will not hesitate to act if they are defamatory."

Dr Amaral insists that his book contains only details of the opinion of the police teams who investigated Madeleine McCann's disappearance. The investigation was a collaborative effort between British and Portuguese police.

"Mr Amaral said: "I received numerous messages of support and solidarity since being taken off the case, including from the UK – messages that also motivated me to tell people what I knew about the Maddie case. I am positive that there's also a section of the public eager to know the truth.

"People can form their opinion without the manipulation that we have seen before."

He said his only regret was failing to carry out a reconstruction of the events soon after Madeleine vanished but claims he was put under "serious pressure" not to. He insisted this was the only failure in a "perfect" text-book investigation.

Asked whether he thought Madeleine was dead, he said: "It is not just my opinion. A whole team of Portuguese and British investigators came to that conclusion last year, and this is part of the files. I have never said the couple killed their daughter and this is not my belief. Deaths may happen for natural reasons, accident or intervention by a third party."

He said he was unperturbed by the threat of any legal action from the McCann family. "There is no reason for that. The details exposed in the book are facts, happenings and objective data which figure in the process and not lies, as they have been described in the press."

He denied he was profiting from the tragic case. "The biggest thing I achieved with this book was to defend my honour and that of those who worked with me. The way I see it, you cannot put a price on dignity. The other objective of the book is to contribute to the search for the truth."

I will end with Dr Amaral's words on the UK publication.

"I am positive that there's also a section of the public eager to know the truth."