The English ask for the arguidos’ DNA - The Four Arguidos Revealed
- Illegal means were suggested
- Suspects have started to be questioned
Jornal de Notícias (paper & epaper editions)
by Marisa Rodrigues
02.07.2014
The British police went as far as asking the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) to collect fingerprints and the DNA profile of the four suspects that have now been made arguidos. Furtively, if necessary.
The request is included in a rogatory letter from July last year, but it was challenged by the PJ, because it is illegal. Upon request from Scotland Yard and with approval from the Public Ministry, the suspects were formally made arguidos, yesterday, by inspectors from the PJ’s Southern Directory, in Faro.
At least two of the arguidos were not accompanied by lawyers, that have been nominated in the meantime so the questioning could take place. A list containing over 250 questions awaited them. The majority accepted to answer. The questions were made by the Polícia Judiciária’s inspectors, in the presence of British detectives that could not intervene.
JN knows that the questioning was concluded at the start of the evening and the arguidos are not due to return to the Directory. The last one leaving, at around 20h30, was Sergey Malinka, a Russian citizen with Portuguese nationality, who had already been investigated in 2007, in the Portuguese case. His computers were seized and home searches were made, but nothing relevant was found. He was a friend of Robert Murat, a former arguido in the Portuguese process.
The other suspects are José da Silva, a former Ocean Club driver, Paulo Jorge Ribeiro, unemployed, who suffers from schizophrenia, and Ricardo Jorge, who was then 16 years old. They live in Praia da Luz, some of them near the terrain where the searches took place one month ago. Scotland Yard believes that they planned to burgle the apartment where the McCanns were spending a holiday. But Madeleine woke up and was killed, so she wouldn’t be able to identify them, and the body was carried by one of them, down the streets that were filled with tourists. A theory that makes absolutely no sense for the PJ.
From today, 11 witnesses start being questioned, also at Scotland Yard’s request.
Sniffer dogs for searches in cars
The English authorities are accompanied by sniffer dogs from the United Kingdom, in case after the interrogations and the making of arguidos, it turns out to be necessary to perform searches, for example in cars. The dogs are the same that recently participated in searches on grounds in the Algarve. Earlier in the investigation, in 2007, two dogs (Eddie and Keela) helped collect indicia.
Arguidos: Facts that the English consider to be compromising
Sergei Malinka, businessman, aged 30
Back in 2007, he was a suspect and a target of searches by the PJ. Now, he is again because he discarded a sofa that was analysed by forensic experts and contained hairs that were similar to others found in the McCanns’ apartment. There is also a conversation that was reported in second hand and supposedly heard near Malinka’s home, about a body that had to be disposed of. The English valued the fact that, at the time, the Russian’s car was torched and someone wrote the word “fala” [“talk”] on the sidewalk.
José Silva, former driver, aged 38
He worked at the Ocean Club and the English point him out as the person who chose the apartments that were to be broken into in the resort and was in charge of checking the tourists’ movements. Scotland Yard says that he is compromised by phone calls that he made to other arguidos on the night of the disappearance and his similarity with the e-fit that was based on the description from an Irish family that was on holiday in Praia da Luz. He is allegedly the famous man who was seen carrying a child.
Paulo Ribeiro, aged 50
He became a suspect for the English policemen because foreign tourists described his odd behaviour and his presence near the McCanns’ apartment before the disappearance. A sufferer of mental illness, he was also denounced through his similarity with another e-fit based on the deposition of witnesses who identified him as a beggar and because he knew one of the other arguidos with whom he spoke on the phone on the day of the crime.
Ricardo Rodrigues, aged 23
He was 16 at the time of the disappearance and the Englishpeople connect him to the case because of phone calls that he made before the fateful moment and on that same day, including one call to Paulo Ribeiro. Another of the allegedly incriminating arguments is the fact that he fits the description that was made by witnesses of one of the two beggars and a suspect of burglaries in the area of Praia da Luz. Against him there is also the fact that he lives close to some of the other men that were now made arguidos upon request from the English policemen.
