JORNAL DE NOTICIAS 12/1/10

Kate and Gerry McCann are trying to prevent the investigators in the case of the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine from being heard, today, at the Civil Court of Lisbon, at the start of the trial of the injunction that removed the book ?The Truth of the Lie? from the market.

The argument for this request that was presented to the judge, over the last few days, is related to alleged ?vices? [flaws] in the opposition that was filed by Gonçalo Amaral, the former Polícia Judiciária investigator in Portimão and the author of that book, which defends the thesis of Maddie?s death and the involvement of the parents in the disappearance of the cadaver.

Today, several Polícia Judiciária officers that were summoned by the former coordinator are to be heard, who may eventually corroborate the same thesis. Magalhães e Menezes, the Public Ministry prosecutor who archived the process, has also been summoned.

In the final dispatch, this magistrate also admitted the possibility that the little English child is dead and that the McCann couple did not manage to prove their innocence ? because the diligence of the reconstitution of facts was not carried out, due to the English friends being unavailable.

The lawyer who represents Kate and Gerry McCann argues that the facts that have been alleged by the couple in the injunction ? which ordered Gonçalo Amaral?s book and the documentary that was based on it, to be removed from the market ? should be deemed as fact, because they have not been duly challenged.

And that therefore it is unnecessary to hear the investigators in court, including Tavares de Almeida and Ricardo Paiva, from the PJ in Portimão, Luís Neves, the PJ?s heavy crime unit director, and Guilhermino Encarnação, the former PJ director in Faro. The former PJ inspector, Francisco Moita Flores, has also been summoned as a witness. As JN reported yesterday, another key witness for Gonçalo Amaral was a Scotland Yard officer who cooperated with the Portuguese investigation. In order to refuse to testify, José de Freitas (an English subject, despite the Portuguese name) sent a letter to the court in which he alleges his obligation towards confidentiality and ?State immunity? of the United Kingdom.

The McCann couple argues that the constant spreading of the former PJ coordinator?s thesis unjustly places them as suspects ? in contradiction with the archiving dispatch ? and that it hurts the search for the little girl. They refuse the possibility of death and insist on the abduction thesis.

On the other hand, the former PJ coordinator alleges that he is not the only one to defend the possibility that Madeleine is deceased and the possible involvement of her parents in the disappearance of the body. He stresses that it is based on facts that are gathered within the process ? including ?indications? that were detected by English dogs.


source: Jornal de Notícias, 12.01.2010

So it will be decided today whether Amaral"s Witnesses can give evidence.

Francisco Moita Flores

His testimony should be interesting!