The billion people who can buy, read and discuss 'The truth about the Lie' versus the 'free speech' nation which cannot

A discussion document issued by the Madeleine McCann Research Group, 14 February 2012

On 20 October 2010, the Portuguese Appeal Court made a historic decision in the long-running case of Dr Gerald McCann and Dr Kate McCann -v- Dr Goncalo Amaral.

After a lower Portuguese Court had banned his book for 13 months, the Appeal Court decided, having regard to the right to freedom of speech and expression, that it was not libellous for his book, once again, to be freely sold in Portugal (and other countries, such as Brazil), where Portuguese is spoken.

We reproduce relevant extracts of the judgement below.

Not only has Dr Amaral’s book on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, ‘The Truth About A Lie’, been freely available in Portuguese-speaking countries for the past 16 months, it has also, since various dates from September 2008 onwards, been available in no fewer than eight different languages, and all the countries that speak those languages.

We’ve done a calculation as to which countries have Dr Amaral’s book on sale in their main language. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Andorra

Argentina

Austria

Belgium

Bolivia

Chile

Cuba

Denmark

Ecuador

France

Germany

Guatemala

Holland

Honduras

Italy

Luxembourg

Mexico

Nicaragua

Norway

Paraguay

Peru

San Marino

Spain

Surinam

Sweden

Switzerland

Uruguay

Venezuela.

We estimate that around 1,100,000,000 people live in those countries: 1.1 billion, or nearly one-sixth of the world’s population.

Madeleine McCann was a British girl, born and bred in England, a land famed the world over for its freedoms, including the right of free speech. Yet Dr Amaral’s book cannot be published and sold in this country. Indeed, not only that, former Madeleine Foundation Secretary Tony Bennett currently faces a term of imprisonment for, amongst other things, referring to that book. In July 2010, for example, the Madeleine Foundation published a leaflet about Dr Goncalo Amaral, in which this statement appeared:

“In ‘The Truth About A Lie’, Dr Amaral explains why he and his team had good grounds for believing Madeleine had died in her parents’ apartment and covered up her death”.

That was and is a true - 100% factual statement. Yet as The Madeleine Foundation reported last year, the McCanns believe that the British public should not even be able to read that sentence. Carter-Ruck told the Madeleine Foundation that that sentence in their leaflet was libellous.

The world has turned upside down. Over a billion people worldwide can read the account by the initial senior detective in the case of the history of, conclusions arrived at, in his investigation.

But the people in the land where Madeleine was born, so the McCanns say, should not be allowed to read it.

There are in fact translations of Dr Amaral’s book available on the internet. Such is the power of the McCanns’ lawyers, Carter-Ruck, however, that we are not sure if we can give you the links here. So we won’t.

But what we can and will do is reproduce those parts of the Portuguese Appeal Court’s judgement which explain just how widely in the world Dr Amaral’s book can be bought and read:

EXTRACTS FROM THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL

IN PORTUGAL - IN THE CASE OF McCANNS -v- AMARAL

On 24 July 2008, the defendant Dr Goncalo Amaral first published his book, through publishers Guerra e Paz.

In that book, Dr Amaral put forward the following hypothesis:

   That the child Madeleine McCann died in the Ocean Club apartment G5A in Vila da Luz, on the evening of 3 May 2007

   That the McCanns and their friends fabricated an abduction

   That Dr Kate Healy and Dr Gerald McCann are suspected of involvement in the concealment of their daughter’s body

   That the death may have been the outcome of a tragic accident

   That there are indications of neglect of the care and safety of the children.

Dr Amaral’s book was published in four editions by the end of July, a further nine by the end of August, and another 12 by end of September. Each edition was of around 10,000 copies. [Thus, in all, around 250,000 copies were printed]. At the time of our decision, the book had been sold out at practically all points of sale.

When the book was published, Dr Amaral gave an interview to the newspaper Correia da Manha, published on 24 July 2008. In that interview, he explained his analysis of the case. He also gave interviews later to all other media that asked him for an interview, each time defending the book’s thesis.

At the beginning of May 2009, Dr Amaral published his book in France, this time under the title: ‘Maddie, L’Enquete interdite: Les revelations du commissaire portugais charge de l’enquete [The revelations of the Portuguese co-ordinator of the investigation].

Dr Amaral also gave countless interviews to several media in France, including the one that was published by Le Parisien newspaper in both its paper and online editions. In those interviews, Dr Amaral continued to promote his hypothesis on the case. The book’s French edition was, and continues to be, systematically and prolifically promoted on the internet, for example on the following websites: [a long list of websites follows] .

Between the date when the Portuguese edition was published [24 July 2008] and the date of the book’s French edition [May 2009], Televisao Independente (TVI) broadcast a TV programme produced by Valentim de Carvalho for the company Filmes, Audiovisuais, SA [FASA], who hold the copyright of the documentary.

The first transmission of that programme was on 13 April 2009, the second on 12 May 2009. This programme was essentially based on the contents of Dr Amaral’s book: ‘Maddie: The Truth About A Lie’. In that documentary, Dr Amaral appears and continues to advance his theory (a) that Madeleine is no longer alive (b) that her death occurred within their Ocean Club apartment, and (c) that her parents, the McCanns, concealed their daughter’s body.

At least 2,200,000 people viewed the first screening of this programme.

At the end of April 2009, a DVD of the programme was made, with the following title and subtitle: ‘Maddie - The Truth About A Lie: A powerful documentary based on the best-seller ‘The Truth About A Lie’ by Goncalo Amaral. Already, 75,000 copies of this DVD have been distributed for sale. The DVD is published on FASA’s website.

All the actions within the investigation that Dr Amaral reports in his book are documented within the investigation file. Not only that, but the investigation documents were also made available in electronic format, not only to the national media, but to international media. These media proceeded to divulge the contents of the reports and statements from the investigation file. This publication of the electronic reports naturally enabled knowledge of the facts of the investigation to be circulated. Public comments were made and soon there was universal discussion of the contents of the investigation file. Any individual in the world can have access to these facts and to the documents of the investigation which enabled the facts of the investigation to be verified. All of this was only a click on the mouse away.

The friends of the McCanns did not make themselves available in Portugal to attend a reconstruction [of the events of 3 May 2007]. This is all documented on pages 4,636 to 4,638 of Volume XII of the ‘Investigation Processos’ files, complied by the Prosecutor’s office.

Dr Amaral’s book was published, through other editors, in several countries, as well as in France, as we referred to above.

The publications occurred as follows:

   In Spain, September 2008, titled ‘Maddie - La verdad de la mentira’

   This was distributed in the Spanish/Castilian language in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries

   In Denmark, in November 200, titled ‘Maddie - Sandheden on Lognem’.

   This Danish edition was then published in the Nordic countries of Norway and Sweden

   In Italy, December 2008, titled ‘Maddie - La Verita della Menzonga’.

   That edition was distributed in Italian-speaking countries all over the world

   In Holland, April 2009, titled ‘Maddie - De Waarheide Achter de Leugen’.

   That was distributed in Dutch-speaking countries throughout the world

   In Germany, in June 2009, with the tile: ‘Maddie - De Wahrheit uber die Luge’

   This was also distributed in German-speaking countries, including Austria and Switzerland.

   There is also an English version circulating on the internet, on the web site [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] , where a Portuguese version can also be found.

Published by the Madeleine McCann Research Group, 14 February 2012

The French press in particular, does not seem to have been as sympathetic to the McCanns as the press in many other countries.

Is that the reason Kate's book wasn't published in French?
German, Hungarian, Dutch and so on, but not in French?

Awesome article!

is there a link to this article on a website I can share on my Facebook?

david_uk wrote:is there a link to this article on a website I can share on my Facebook?

Here are two that appeared on Twitter earlier

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Not sure if this is the correct thread, but I just wanted to make sure that people know that Sr Amaral's book 'The Truth of the Lie' is now available in English from Amazon

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From the description:

The only English version of the book by Gonçalo Amaral. It's very hard to get hold of a paperback version of this book which offers an alternative version of the events widely reported. The family originally applied to ban this book but that court order has now been overturned and Gonçalo is now allowed to publish his views. The book is all in English with a newly designed English front cover. The original front cover appears on the first page of the book. 125 pages in A5 format.

Mods: Please fee free to move (or delete if this is old news)

Proceed with caution - there is something not quite right about this.

The paperback English version published by Fox Publications is not actually on sale as a re-run, Amazon only promote one buying option, said to be published by Fox Publication in January 2018, yet the reviews precede 2018.  The only buying option available is one new copy for £14.99, the seller being MitsiEGR.

The same product is also being marketed on Ebay for only £12.99 incl. P&P..

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Availability - one copy!

_______________________________________________________________________

Thread locked.  Mod

I've reopened this thread to say that PeterMac also doesn't believe it's GA who is selling his book on Amazon.
He's going to order a copy.

Posted by Paul Terry on twitter

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FOX PUBLISHING LTD

Company number SC514145

Registered office address
14 A Sandilands Drive, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB24 2PX

Company status
Dissolved

Dissolved on
17 October 2017

Company type
Private limited Company

Incorporated on
27 August 2015

Nature of business (SIC)

58190 - Other publishing activities


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---------------------------

FOX PUBLISHING LIMITED

Company number 03068244

Registered office address
Farringdon Place, 20 Farringdon Road, London, EC1M 3AP

Company status
Dissolved

Dissolved on
8 July 2014

Company type
Private limited Company

Incorporated on
14 June 1995

Accounts

Last accounts made up to 31 March 2008
Annual return

Last annual return made up to 14 June 2004
Nature of business (SIC)

2213 - Publish journals & periodicals

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Also featured on Amazon UK..

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This is getting really weird.  

When I first looked at the Amazon link posted by mootle, I recall the date of publication by Fox Publications (with little or nothing to recommend them) was quoted as January 2018, five minutes ago the publish date is January 2017.  Now I could have been mistaken, I'm useless at doing more than one thing at a time, however now, rather than one new copy available, Amazon site has changed to 'only four copies in stock' and the price has reduced from £14.99 to £13.99 - I didn't get that wrong!

Whatever the publish date for this paperback English edition of The Truth of the Lie, the eleven reviews on Amazon are the same, ranging between October 2017 and January 2018 - a significant time lapse between publishing date January 2017 and the first review for such a sought after edition of the book..

19th November 2017
6th January 2018
2nd November 2017
8th November 2017
20th November 2017
17th January 2018
1st January 2018
17th October 2017
13th October 2017
18th October 2017
4th December 2017

An English language version of the Truth of the Lie, translated by Madeleine McCann truth seeker AnnaEsse, has been available for all to read online for years - who/where/when/why this paperback book with no apparent authentic origin?

If this paperback English version of the 'Truth of the Lie' now said to be published January 2017 with a newly designed cover is to be believed, why has no one ever heard of it before?

Or have you?  Please, if any member has prior knowledge of this limited availability paperback edition, said to be an English translation of Gonçalo Amaral's book, can you confirm the detail because from where I'm standing at present, this appears to be an outrageous hoax involving the world's foremost internet trader - Amazon !!! Either that or it's some joker playing baby games - and there's been more than a few of them along the line.

Mootle - unwittingly you appear to have hit on a minefield   !

UK being a free speech country is a joke.   Free speech as long as you agree with the top 1 percent and what a bunch most of them are.   PAH.

Very weird,  how do we know it is a word for word translation of Mr Amarals book, how do we know it is the genuine article and not doctored in some way? 

And /or is someone trying to make a fast buck?

The EAN (from pic of back of 'book') brings up this when searched on google:

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ASIN: B075QGMFLH

If I were a betting man I'd say it was a chancer out to make a quick score.

I also share MayMuse's concern that the text may not be genuine (or even a decent translation)

The words 'barge-pole', 'touch' and 'don't' spring to mind

IMO this is a scam. If you search ean-search.org the number has no associated product.  The country is Switzerland. Also any book intended for sale should have an ISBN, which is normally printed above the "barcode".  If I was a bit more "techs" I could post pictures from my iPad ........ Sadly I'm not