On 2nd April 2013, Leonor Cipriano was sentenced to seven months in prison for making false statements. Already serving a sentence of 16 years for the murder of her daughter Joana, who vanished in September 2004, Leonor was now found to have wrongly accused officers of the Judicial Police of having assaulted her during questioning.
Leonor Cipriano, who is currently serving 16 years in prison for murder and concealment of a corpse, gave contradictory statements about alleged abuse she had suffered at the premises of the Judicial Police (PJ) in Faro during questioning that was conducted whilst investigating the disappearance of her daughter, on September 12, from the village of Figueira, Portimão.
In the ruling the collective of judges considered that the statements that Leonor Cipriano produced during the trial sessions contained "flagrant and relevant contradictions", despite having had the "opportunity to reveal the truth". The court has, however, considered the aggressions as proved, although without establishing the aggressors' identity.
In the same case, Gonçalo Amaral, a former coordinator of the PJ's Criminal Investigation Department in Portimão, who was acquitted of the crime of omission of denunciation, was condemned to one and a half years over the crime of false deposition, with a suspended sentence over a similar period. Inspector António Nunes Cardoso was condemned to two years and three months over forgery of a document, with a suspended sentence over two years.
In turn, the former PJ inspectors Paulo Pereira Cristóvão and Leonel Morgado Marques and Paulo Marques Bom, who all stood accused of the crimes of torture against Leonor Cipriano following the questioning, were acquitted.
