From what I can gather, reading other forums, it is the McCanns lawyer, Rogerio Alves, who declared that they are 'excluded'
He aslo confirmed that the McCanns will ask to be 'assistants' in the process
... what does that mean ?
I heard Rogerio Alves, one of their Portugueses lawyers, say he was contemplating asking for them to be assistants in the process. It requires to have a lawyer who will accompany the process for or with you. The main interest is to have access to the data..
This is why, in August 2007, they required that statute when they became aware, through an informal interview that Mrs McCann mentions in "Madeleine", that they were considered like persons of interest. The request was even accepted by the MP, a couple of days before they were made arguidos. The two statutes aren't officially exclusive of each other, but technically are (the rights are about the same), so, although their lawyer tried to argue, the request was declared obsolete.