Goncalo Has Lost the Libel trial

This is a result that will shock the McCann community on both sides. Nobody expected Amaral to lose quite so comprehensively. Even the most fervent McCann supporters were worried after reading the judge's findings. To then be awarded such a massive sum is quite incredible. If, in addition, the rulings about banning the book / DVD are true, then this is a complete victory for the McCann lawyers. It leaves Amaral with nothing. He will be devastated.

And of course it signals the end. We can anticipate OG to be wound up very quickly now. This verdict was the only thing that could have caused a problem and instead it has cleared a path all the way to closure. No abductor will be found of course - that would be absurd - but DCI Wall now has the easiest task of all to announce that after a "comprehensive review of all that OG has achieved, the trail is just too cold and sadly there is not enough evidence to charge someone with the abduction".

It's been their game-plan pretty much from the start, and the Lisbon trial has given SY and the McCanns the perfect ending. Better than they could ever have dared hope for.

I did warn everyone about assuming a GA win because of all their overall views of the situation.

As I said, the libel cases are on carefully worded and specific issues.  They are not an airing for, or a decision about, the matter as a whole.

I feel sick!

Bishop Brennan wrote:This is a result that will shock the McCann community on both sides.  Nobody expected Amaral to lose quite so comprehensively.  Even the most fervent McCann supporters were worried after reading the judge's findings.  To then be awarded such a massive sum is quite incredible.   If, in addition, the rulings about banning the book / DVD are true, then this is a complete victory for the McCann lawyers.  It leaves Amaral with nothing.  He will be devastated.

It's almost a third of what they claimed against him, the judge declined on two-thirds. So it's a two-thirds victory to Amaral as I see it!

Lisbon court orders McCanns be paid €500,000 in damages by former PJ detective
by Brendan de Beer, in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] · 28-04-2015 17:17:00 · [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A Lisbon Civil Court on Tuesday issued a ruling in which former PJ police detective Gonçalo Amaral is to pay the parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann a sum of 250,000 euros each plus a large sum in interest. Amaral can still challenge the decision with the Lisbon Appeal Court.
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Calculations provided by the McCanns' legal team currently place the total amount of interest at €106,246. This interest plus damages amount to just under half the €1.2 million requested by Kate and Gerry McCann at the start of legal proceedings more than five years ago.


The decision comes five days before what will be marking of the eighth year of Madeleine’s disappearance from the holiday apartment she had been staying in with her parents in Praia da Luz.
 
In its ruling, the court also prohibited the sale of the book written by Amaral with regards to Madeleine’s disappearance. In the book, Amaral ruled out the widespread belief that she had been abducted. Instead he argued that she had died in an accident in the apartment on 3 May 2007.
 
The book’s publisher has also been banned from releasing any new editions and has to hand over all unsold copies.
 
Isabel Duarte, the lawyer acting on behalf of the McCanns, opted not to comment on the decision.
 
In the 52-page document, seen by The Portugal News shortly after the ruling was released, repeated references are made to the fact that the date of the release of Amaral’s book (24 July 2008), took place only three days after the Portuguese Attorney-General’s office decided to shelve the case.
 
Isabel Duarte had argued that Amaral used privileged information in the book, with the court ruling that Amaral's freedom of expression was limited by his position as a former police detective and lead investigator in the case.
 
But the court also found  that it was not proven that the allegations made in the book “in any way contributed to the hindering of the course of the investigation into the disappearance of the minor Madeleine McCann.”
 
The court further rejected libel claims made by Kate and Gerry on behalf Madeleine and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie.
 
In comments to Portuguese newspaper Expresso on Tuesday evening, Miguel Cruz Rodrigues, legal counsel for Gonçalo Amaral, said he knew nothing of the court’s ruling.
 
“I have not yet been notified by the court”, he was quoted as saying, adding that he found it “very strange” that only one of the parties was aware of the verdict.
 
He opted not to comment further until he had seen the actual judgment.

The McCann's will not be content until they've completely disposed of Goncalo, the man who tried to find their daughter.

I just hope he has enough strength left in him not to end up like Brenda.

Does anyone on this board have the know how,wherewithall,to set up a fund for Goncalo? I think he deserves it and it could be a good way to put our monies where our mouths are.

justabout wrote:Does anyone on this board have the know how,wherewithall,to set up a fund for Goncalo? I think he deserves it and it could be a good way to put our monies where our mouths are.

There's already a fund set up - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

justabout wrote:Does anyone on this board have the know how,wherewithall,to set up a fund for Goncalo? I think he deserves it and it could be a good way to put our monies where our mouths are.

Would this end up in the pockets of the McCanns?

Thanks for that,will check it out now.

sonic72 wrote:

Bishop Brennan wrote:This is a result that will shock the McCann community on both sides.  Nobody expected Amaral to lose quite so comprehensively.  Even the most fervent McCann supporters were worried after reading the judge's findings.  To then be awarded such a massive sum is quite incredible.   If, in addition, the rulings about banning the book / DVD are true, then this is a complete victory for the McCann lawyers.  It leaves Amaral with nothing.  He will be devastated.

It's almost a third of what they claimed against him, the judge declined on two-thirds. So it's a two-thirds victory to Amaral as I see it!

That's a very brave-faced view to put on it. I trust now that the McCann's will spend every hour and every day and every week of their remaining lives searching for their missing daughter, and will report back at regular (e.g. half-yearly) intervals to the British taxpayer, who's already forked out so much to help them, how they are getting on.

They could also benefit from re-acquainting themselves with Dante's Inferno, or from reading it for the first time if they have not already done so. There's no way they can turn there backs on this case now.

Miraflores wrote:

justabout wrote:Does anyone on this board have the know how,wherewithall,to set up a fund for Goncalo? I think he deserves it and it could be a good way to put our monies where our mouths are.

Would this end up in the pockets of the McCanns?

I sincerley hope not.  It says on Goncalo`s website that it is to `Support the legal defence account` , so I would hope that is all it is - not his own money.
Anyhow, if this is all true, the money will just be taken from GA`s funds that they had frozen.

BBC

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This is one crazy messed up world.

This is a TRAVESTY in every sense of the word.

Where is justice?

Justice is owned (not by ordinary people).

I'd like to wait to see the court report before passing too much comment on this.

In the meantime, all I'll say is: What a load of absolute borrocks. Something stinks.

Lance De Boils wrote:I'd like to wait to see the court report before passing too much comment on this.

If we ever get to see it then I believe it will contain some amazing legal gymnastics.

I would like to see the rest of the judgment on this. It does sound a lot of money, but could be some sort of compromise award.

Have the McCanns simply been awarded a percentage of the profits of the book? The interest owed would already be in the bank due to the profits being frozen for years.

Perhaps the judge accepted that the McCanns suffered some distress due to the publication of the book (which I'm sure they have, the problem for us all is that we don't know, for certain, the cause of the McCanns distress)  How is it possible for a judge to decide, fairly, when no-one knows, for certain, what did happen to Madeleine?

Banning publication of any more copies of the book at least solves the problem of further disputes between the McCanns and Amaral. 

Inevitably, the McCanns would make much of the fact that they won, when perhaps there is a little more to the story than this. They always claim that they have been cleared with regard to the investigation, when that was not quite the case also. Amaral has the same problem that he has always had, that the majority of British people do not speak Portuguese and do not look too deeply into the case.

I can't believe Amaral has lost the whole of his case here. Let's see what else transpires.

BlueBag wrote:

Lance De Boils wrote:I'd like to wait to see the court report before passing too much comment on this.

If we ever get to see it then I believe it will contain some amazing legal gymnastics.

You are probably correct.

This judgement - if it is as it's being reported - tells me just about everything I need to know about how this case is going to play out in the future - Op Grange included.

I am disappointed and disgusted at the result. I honestly believed that Sn Amaral would win and that the McCanns would have to pay up then slink off into the shadows. Unfortunately I now think that OG will be a whitewash and that will be the end of it. Nobody I know believes the parents story and think them guilty. Poor Sn Amaral and his family as he'll be described yet again as the disgraced drunk sardine munching ex cop!! Gerry and Co must have some dirt on TPTB that they are willing to influence the Portugese judge. Where's the justice??? Poor Madeleine, your parents are still making money out of you and have no shame nor conscience.  

You got to wonder why Martin Brunt is always the first one to know / to be informed, and to announce it?

Have we heard from Pinky?  No  Kate?  No  Gerry?  No

Calmez vous SVP, and wait for the official version.

If true, this is going to affect how SP and JK finalized their respective film.

If I was Mr Amaral I would send the McCanns this message:-

"Colá-la no seu cu..."

...so does this mean that now anyone that repeats the facts, (as Goncalo did), and supports the logical conclusions based upon those facts, (as Goncalo did), is now likely to be pursued by the McCann's legal team to either shut up and/or pay up?  What a dark day for (real) justice.

Oh to be an unscrupulous lawyer now be inspired to go knocking on the McCann's door with a mutually rewarding 'No win, no fee' proposal to be contracted to go off on the hunt for revenues.

On top of the personal injustice to Goncalo, this decision is priceless to the McCanns because yet (again) what the uninformed, MSM consuming, masses will remember about the case is so frustrating. The uninformed won't be exposed to the facts, won't be encouraged to think for themselves and will simply now have their prejudices further reinforced that the PJ were wrong and 'that detective bloke' was wrong.

As Malcom X said "The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."

The Mc Canns asked for a certain amount in damages - I wonder what proportion of that amount they have been awarded?
Is it 25% or 50%?.
They have not been awarded the full amount that they requested. It seems they have been awarded a token amount.
The Mc Canns were always going to spin the result - no matter what.. lets wait and see .. it does not necessarily mean whitewash..

Confusion as ever.
 
If you put the whole article into google translate it says:
 
‘Maddie case. Gonçalo Amaral says he has been notified of the decision of the court’
 
yet:
 
diz não ter sido notificado = says it was not notified.
 
Amaral’s lawyer certainly says he has not been made aware, which if correct is just shocking.

I am absolutely shocked. Somewhere I always feared a bit the financial side since the trial was about "human rights" and we all know how distorted those trials are.

But bookbanning?? Really Portugal?? Back to the dark ages?? 

I have his book, can anyone tell me where to get the DVD? Than I will personally take care that from now on the content of the book and DVD are available on the internet.
 This devious duo has always been able to submit their critics in silence. We have to make sure that the truth will not be buried. We have to make sure everyone will at every time have access to what really happened.

Snr Amaral was not the only defendant in this case - what is the outcome with regard to the others ?  Are the damages to be shared between them ?

sami wrote:Snr Amaral was not the only defendant in this case - what is the outcome with regard to the others ?  Are the damages to be shared between them ?

I wondered about that too, sami.

Is there no voice in Portugal that protests against a book being banned?

The monstrosity of that!

How could a court place a second ban on a book when the original ban was overturned by a higher court?

Anyway, Goncalo Amaral may have left the court with his pockets empty but he also left with his head held high retaining his dignity and his credibility and the support  of millions of friends and well wishers worldwide.  He will recover from this, he may even continue and take this further.  If not, its over for him and he can move on.

As for his opponents, they are left with a small fortune that wont last long, a few dodgy friends in high places, lost credibility and always under suspicion. They have to go through the rest of their lives knowing that millions are sceptical of their claims that Madeleine was abducted.  Then they have the campaign for justice to deal with, not to mention the possibility of the truth coming out one day or even the twins, when they are old enough, starting their own campaign to find out what really happened.  This is never going to go away for the McCanns.

Goncalo Amaral has the important things in life, things that money cannot buy, the McCanns have lost all of that.

We now need to wait and see what Amaral is going to do, then lend him all the support that we possibly can.  IMO, he is always a winner.

lj wrote:I have his book, can anyone tell me where to get the DVD? Than I will personally take care that from now on the content of the book and DVD are available on the internet.

You could always download the video from youtube.