Amaral V McCann trial

Not quite accurate Colonel Fabian. Under Portuguese law, a police officer can decalre an individual an arguido, and is required to if he wants to put questions that may be incriminating. Or the witness him or herself can declare themselves an arguido if they want protection from self incrimination. It does not require an order from a judge.

And as far as personal vendetta is concerned, writing a book in the form he did looks a bit like a personal vendetta against the parents. He was unable to bring a legal case against them and so decided to "try" them via the media.

Beattie wrote:

Alfiefinn wrote:We can only watch and wait with interest....

Don"t be surprised if their suit against Amaral is dropped. They did it once before when the Company went bust.
If it does go to Trial much will depend on the experience of their respective Lawyers.

Why on earth would they drop the case? Having brought it, and having obtained an injunction, and had profits from the book "arrested" (I love the way that is put) why on earth would they drop the case?

Having read the book, and seen the documentary, it clearly goes against the official announcement from the Portuguese public prosecutor. The only chance Amaral has of winning this case is if he has as yet unrevealed proof of the fate of Madeleine, then he faces losing.

The Portuguese legal aid system has provision for financial support in defamation cases, so he should not be debarred from pursuing his appeal and defending his case on financial grounds, and of course the fund should produce significant sums, IF all those signing the petition put their money where their mouth is.

I don"t think Legal Aid would amount to 1.2 Million Euros if Amaral lost the case. Apparently, he has already
had to claim Legal Aid to pay the Jurors on the Cipriano Trial. We have been told the Fund is drying up, I think when the next accounts to 31/1/10 are published the Fund will be wound up soon after.

The McCanns are paying Smethurst, Abreu, their Portugese Lawyer, and Isobel Duarte so their Legal Fees must
be considerable. They know they have no chance of getting any money from Amaral, so why flog a dead horse?
If they try to get a permanent ban on the sale of the Book and DVD without going to Trial I think they will settle
for that.

Your concern for the fund is most touching. Legal aid is purely to cover legal fees, and not any awards made to plaintiffs. I believe that 1.2m euros have already been sequestred, as have other assets such as the Jaguar, so if he and the publisher lose the case this sum would be paid to the fund. Any addional costs would either come from the publisher , the TV company (who I believe may be connected) and also from Amaral up to the extent of his assets. I believe he is the owner of a private company to deal with profits from the book and film.

There is obviously a risk on both sides. But for the McCanns and the fund, I believe minimal. Just my opinion, of course.

Why to ban the book?
To ban it is only one possibilty.
The court could also force Dr. Amaral just to write it a little bit different or alternatively to rewrite several passages in the text.
Or not?
That would be enough and no trail would be necessary.

sans_souci wrote:Your concern for the fund is most touching. Legal aid is purely to cover legal fees, and not any awards made to plaintiffs. I believe that 1.2m euros have already been sequestred, as have other assets such as the Jaguar, so if he and the publisher lose the case this sum would be paid to the fund. Any addional costs would either come from the publisher , the TV company (who I believe may be connected) and also from Amaral up to the extent of his assets. I believe he is the owner of a private company to deal with profits from the book and film.

There is obviously a risk on both sides. But for the McCanns and the fund, I believe minimal. Just my opinion, of course.

According to the Press the Car is a Company Asset, Amaral has Debts and a big Mortgage, the House is not in his name and the Company is owned by two people whose only assets were the book, DVD and Company Car.
No mention of 1.2 million Euros sequestered.

Lilemor wrote:Why to ban the book?
To ban it is only one possibilty.
The court could also force Dr. Amaral just to write it a little bit different or alternatively to rewrite several passages in the text.
Or not?
That would be enough and no trail would be necessary.

Dr. Amaral maintains that there is nothing in the book that is not in the police files. Why should he re-write one word of the book? Perhaps McCanns should first try suing the police for releasing those files in the first place? Of course Dr. Amaral could have consulted the McCanns first before writing anything just to make sure that he wasn't embarassing them by exposing them as liars without actually saying so. On the other hand, the McCanns are perfectly free to write their own version of events in their own book; there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't, apart from the fact that it might be extremely dangerous for them to do so. Remember all the trouble they went to to make a film of their own re-construction with most of the footage shot ending up on the cutting room floor? Writing their own book without incriminating themselves might just be as impossible. That still doesn't give these people the right to re-write Dr. Amaral's book.

The McCann's have created a monster of their own making by attempting to ban the book. Its already out there, there are already translations, and its already in an electronic format.

Their only hope is to damp down all publicity of the forthcoming trial, but the problem is the media are already reporting the story. Win or lose, people will be curious about the contents of the book.

It really doesnt matter if the book is 100% accurate or a complete pack of lies, its a catalyst, and once people are interested, and once they become aware of the police files and their contents, its damaging to the McCann's reputations. If where not damaging, they would not have sought the injunction.

Unfortunately the police files illustrate the extent of the early PR, couple that with financial inconistancies in the accounts, private investigators pad to do nothing, a non functioning website, a non functioning telephone hotline etc and the picture becomes very clear.

Hare

I think the McCanns have made a big mistake here, especially having to appear in a Portugese Court where
they will be stared at outside and maybe a few cries of "go home" from a public which is heartily sick of them.
A lot will depend on how well Duarte promotes the whole Family as being unable to cope with life and the
irreparable harm they have suffered. I don"t fancy her chances when Amaral"s Lawyer shows the Cutting Edge
video to prove they are a happy family .!!!!!! I still remain quite convinced they will not go to Trial.

Beattie wrote:Apparently, he has already had to claim Legal Aid to pay the Jurors on the Cipriano Trial.

Gonçalo Amaral does not have to pay the jurors on the Cipriano trial. They have not been paid yet because the court in Faro does not have the money. GA has nothing nothing to do with this delay in payment.

Is anyone being able to post ok? Having problems getting through the forums.

The forum did go a bit funny on me for a while - it changed to a weird layout, but it's ok now

When I click on Missing Madeleine at the bottom I get this

Erreur dans : /home/include/eacc_key.php
A la ligne : 43
Erreur : mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.0.104' (4)Erreur dans : /home/include/eacc_key.php
A la ligne : 43
Erreur : mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.0.104' (4)Erreur dans : /home/fa/inc/db.forum
A la ligne : 189
Erreur : MYSQL_ERROR : Mysql can not connect to slave - db_server=0, sqlserver=192.168.0.104

Beattie wrote:I still remain quite convinced they will not go to Trial.

I hope your right, but I dont think they have a choice. If they fail to see this through, then the floodgates will open.

Yes, that's what I got earlier, but I closed the window, re-opened it and now it's ok

Hare wrote:

Beattie wrote:I still remain quite convinced they will not go to Trial.

I hope your right, but I dont think they have a choice. If they fail to see this through, then the floodgates will open.

They are panicking. Pamalam has been Carter Rucked (see separate thread) and it looks all bluff to me. They are quoting now that Gerry has copyright of all his blogs! Now THAT is desperation, IMHO.

Just in case, I downloaded the PDF of The Book and if Pamalam is made to take it down, I will just post it up somewhere else. And if lots of us do the same, there is no way that they can Carter-Ruck ALL of us.

sans_souci wrote:Not quite accurate Colonel Fabian. Under Portuguese law, a police officer can decalre an individual an arguido, and is required to if he wants to put questions that may be incriminating. Or the witness him or herself can declare themselves an arguido if they want protection from self incrimination. It does not require an order from a judge.

And as far as personal vendetta is concerned, writing a book in the form he did looks a bit like a personal vendetta against the parents. He was unable to bring a legal case against them and so decided to "try" them via the media.

Amaral’s book looks like a vendetta in the same way the McCann’s campaign looks like a distraction.

Imagine a hundred or more sites with the book posted - that would be at least one hundred letters - would have thought that would be about £200 in costs per letter - mmmm - that is twenty thousand pounds or so.

Now if that were a thousand sites - and was repeated over and over then maybe we could bankrupt the person financing this pathetic attempt to lock down information.

Colonel Fabien wrote:

Beattie wrote:Apparently, he has already had to claim Legal Aid to pay the Jurors on the Cipriano Trial.

Gonçalo Amaral does not have to pay the jurors on the Cipriano trial. They have not been paid yet because the court in Faro does not have the money. GA has nothing nothing to do with this delay in payment.

My apologies, I misread the Translation. What a strange way to do justice, the jurors have to be paid, so who
pays the Judges, witnesses etc?

Been getting that occasionally for a day or two and also a whole page of gobbledygook a couple of times. Waiting a few seconds and reopening the page or the site seems to clear it but...

The Famous Grouse,

Didn"t Clarence Mitchell say at the PCC Meeting that the internet too needed monitoring? They obviously are
trawling and your"e right, becoming desperate.Wait "til they go to Portugal, and have to run the gauntlet of
boos from the Portugese who must be heartily sick of them.For Gerry read MEGALOMANIAC.

If you or anybody else knows how to find the video of the PCC meeting, can you post the link here?

There is a very telling moment near the end where one of the Committee Members, a Man, asks Carter Ruck
whether the DE libel suit was taken on a no win no fee basis. The guy, Adam? was taken aback for a moment
then says it was taken as a retainer, then no win no Fee. Gerry butts in and says he was willing to sell his house
to pay if necessary.
Could you imagine any Client of Carter Ruck being taken on on a no win no fee basis.

The Famous Grouse wrote:They are panicking. Pamalam has been Carter Rucked (see separate thread) and it looks all bluff to me. They are quoting now that Gerry has copyright of all his blogs! Now THAT is desperation, IMHO.

I Agree, and funnily enough the first thing I did after reading Pamalam's post was to download a copy of the PDF !

Carter Rucks actions are the equivelent of trying to put out a fire with a bucket full of petrol.

Hare

They will use the excuse that the Fund is running out of money because of the malicious Book and DVD available in some European Countries causing a drop in Donations from these Countries. Therefore they cannot
pursue Justice for Madeleine and their Family and very reluctantly have to drop the charges.

Well not long to wait until the 11th, when no doubt all will be revealed.

Not sure that the record of preditions is that good though.

From the McCanns will definitely face charges in July 2008, to they will never be released from arguido status, to Amaral will never be charged, he will never be convicted, the McCanns will never sue Bennett over the 60 reasons etc, the McCanns will never return to Portugal, if they do they will be arrested immediately, the McCanns will never sue Amaral..............

I"m not sure what this hearing is about really, it"s not the commencement of the Trial certainly, but due to
the publicity the McCanns engender it may be held in camera .