Joana Cipriano was an eight-year-old Portuguese girl who disappeared from the village of Figueira, near Portimão, in the Algarve, on 12 September 2004. After the criminal investigation, she was later assumed to have been murdered, though her body was never found.
Whilst being interrogated by police her mother, Leonor Cipriano, was allegedly brutally beaten by several Portuguese police officers under the command of Gonçalo Amaral, the former lead detective and coordinator in the Madeleine McCann case.
Several police officers including Amaral were later charged with offences. Gonçalo Amaral who was not present at the time of the alleged beating but was accused of covering up for his colleagues was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, suspended, for misrepresentation of evidence in the case of aggressions against Leonor Cipriano. The defendants who were accused of the crime of torture - Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, Leonel Marques and Paulo Marques Bom - were acquitted.
The inspector António Cardoso, accused of the crime of forgery of a document, was sentenced to two years and three months, also a suspended penalty.
Here we look at the Cipriano case and what was involved.
Leonor Cipriano after the alleged beating.