Did Gonçalo Amaral breach Portuguese secrecy laws?

[Alfred R Jones]

I think I said "if" somewhere in my post.
My point being .....well you know precisely what my point was.

The subject of this thread is did Amaral break secrecy laws not "are the PT judiciary hell-bent on prosecuting Amaral" so what is your point exactly?

[Lyall]

The subject of this thread is did Amaral break secrecy laws not "are the PT judiciary hell-bent on prosecuting Amaral" so what is your point exactly?

I think the point may be that just as no action appears to have been taken against GA for any breach of those laws, no action was taken against anyone else breaching them either (and that was everyone).

[Alice Purjorick]

The subject of this thread is did Amaral break secrecy laws not "are the PT judiciary hell-bent on prosecuting Amaral" so what is your point exactly?

Well I guess if the mods become as p****d off as you appear to be my posts will be removed.
My point is that Dr Amaral may well have breached secrecy laws we don't really know.
Inaction by the authorities would indicate either he hasn't or it is not considered worthy of prosecution.

[Brietta]

Mr Amaral was unable to prove his theory that Madeleine McCann had died in apartment 5a and her parents were complicit when he was the co-ordinator of the force investigating her disappearance.

His investigation was such a disaster that it eventually cost him his job; for this he apparently blamed Madeleine's parents and became an author it could be argued partly to use his former position and inside knowledge of the case for pay-back time and partly as a new career move.

In doing so the restrictions placed on him by the rule of law were summarily dismissed and a mob rule informed by propaganda instituted in its place.

The speed with which this was done after the archiving of Madeleine's case made it obvious that Mr Amaral was in breach of the code governing secrecy in Portugal and as DCI has pointed out on this thread this is exemplified by his use of illustrations taken, not from memory but from official sources.

This unprofessional conduct does indeed raise a thought.

Anyone in this country who has had access to information which is covered by the Official Secrets Act is considered to be bound by it for life and many take outdated information to their graves in respecting this.

Surely there is something amiss in the Judicial Secrecy Laws in Portugal if a public official is enabled to release information with impunity in the case of a missing child just because he has resigned his position?

[Eleanor]

According to Amaral, he asked for permissions from The PJ  to write his book while he was still employed, but it was refused.  Which is why he resigned.

Not sure what this says about anything to do with The Secrecy Laws.

[Alice Purjorick]

Mr Amaral was unable to prove his theory that Madeleine McCann had died in apartment 5a and her parents were complicit when he was the co-ordinator of the force investigating her disappearance.

His investigation was such a disaster that it eventually cost him his job; for this he apparently blamed Madeleine's parents and became an author it could be argued partly to use his former position and inside knowledge of the case for pay-back time and partly as a new career move.

In doing so the restrictions placed on him by the rule of law were summarily dismissed and a mob rule informed by propaganda instituted in its place.

The speed with which this was done after the archiving of Madeleine's case made it obvious that Mr Amaral was in breach of the code governing secrecy in Portugal and as DCI has pointed out on this thread this is exemplified by his use of illustrations taken, not from memory but from official sources.

This unprofessional conduct does indeed raise a thought.

Anyone in this country who has had access to information which is covered by the Official Secrets Act is considered to be bound by it for life and many take outdated information to their graves in respecting this.

Surely there is something amiss in the Judicial Secrecy Laws in Portugal if a public official is enabled to release information with impunity in the case of a missing child just because he has resigned his position?

As much of the archived investigation has been put into the public domain quite legally in Portugal I would suggest comparing The Official Secrets Act of the UK with Judicial Secrecy in Portugal is inappropriate.
We do not know with any degree of certainty that the controlling magistrate did not give him [Dr Amaral] permission to use selected documents as sources for his book do we ?
For all I know he [Dr Amaral] may be .........t little s**t on the face of the earth, bent as a dockers hook and the book bootlegged from official sources without permission. Those factors however do not appear to have cut it with the judge at the trial.

[stephen25000]

Mr Amaral was unable to prove his theory that Madeleine McCann had died in apartment 5a and her parents were complicit when he was the co-ordinator of the force investigating her disappearance.

His investigation was such a disaster that it eventually cost him his job; for this he apparently blamed Madeleine's parents and became an author it could be argued partly to use his former position and inside knowledge of the case for pay-back time and partly as a new career move.

In doing so the restrictions placed on him by the rule of law were summarily dismissed and a mob rule informed by propaganda instituted in its place.

The speed with which this was done after the archiving of Madeleine's case made it obvious that Mr Amaral was in breach of the code governing secrecy in Portugal and as DCI has pointed out on this thread this is exemplified by his use of illustrations taken, not from memory but from official sources.

This unprofessional conduct does indeed raise a thought.

Anyone in this country who has had access to information which is covered by the Official Secrets Act is considered to be bound by it for life and many take outdated information to their graves in respecting this.

Surely there is something amiss in the Judicial Secrecy Laws in Portugal if a public official is enabled to release information with impunity in the case of a missing child just because he has resigned his position?

Are you for real ?

You do realize that Amaral's basic theory has not been disproved, don't you ?

and what has this got to do with the official secrets act ?

It isn't a matter of national security.

[ferryman]

Those factors however do not appear to have cut it with the judge at the trial.

The judges considered libel, not Portuguese secrecy laws.

Breach of secrecy laws may be a consideration of (subsequent) criminal proceedings in Amaral's crowded schedule of court proceedings ...

[stephen25000]

Those factors however do not appear to have cut it with the judge at the trial.

The judges considered libel, not Portuguese secrecy laws.

Breach of secrecy laws may be a consideration of (subsequent) criminal proceedings in Amaral's crowded schedule of court proceedings ...

Really ?

Unfortunately, all the information was already in the public domain.

So that won't wash.

[pathfinder73]

Mr Amaral was unable to prove his theory that Madeleine McCann had died in apartment 5a and her parents were complicit when he was the co-ordinator of the force investigating her disappearance.

His investigation was such a disaster that it eventually cost him his job; for this he apparently blamed Madeleine's parents and became an author it could be argued partly to use his former position and inside knowledge of the case for pay-back time and partly as a new career move.

In doing so the restrictions placed on him by the rule of law were summarily dismissed and a mob rule informed by propaganda instituted in its place.

The speed with which this was done after the archiving of Madeleine's case made it obvious that Mr Amaral was in breach of the code governing secrecy in Portugal and as DCI has pointed out on this thread this is exemplified by his use of illustrations taken, not from memory but from official sources.

This unprofessional conduct does indeed raise a thought.

Anyone in this country who has had access to information which is covered by the Official Secrets Act is considered to be bound by it for life and many take outdated information to their graves in respecting this.

Surely there is something amiss in the Judicial Secrecy Laws in Portugal if a public official is enabled to release information with impunity in the case of a missing child just because he has resigned his position?

His investigation was not a disaster. He was after the right man when he was removed. The same guy SY are after 7 years later. The UK interfering here there and everywhere was the real disaster. Not receiving statements - Gaspar, crecheman - not that is a cluster fk!

[sadie]

His investigation was not a disaster. He was after the right man when he was removed. The same guy SY are after 7 years later. The UK interfering here there and everywhere was the real disaster. Not receiving statements - Gaspar, crecheman - not that is a cluster fk!

His investigation WAS a disaster.  Right from day one he treated Madeleine as being dead.  No evidence to point to that at all.  He was NOT searching for a living child at all, just ?hoping for a dead one .... ? so that he could pin the crime on Kate or Gerry.  IMO

Also, he didn't understand the dogs alerts and made a right pigs ear of that.

The ordinary cops at Portimao are to be congratulated on their diligent work, but Amaral messed up badly ... ably assisted by some of his senior officers

And now,are we finding that he breached Secrecy Laws.  Jeez !

[stephen25000]

His investigation WAS a disaster.  Right from day one he treated Madeleine as being dead.  No evidence to point to that at all.  He was NOT searching for a living child at all, just ?hoping for a dead one .... ? so that he could pin the crime on Kate or Gerry.  IMO

Also, he didn't understand the dogs alerts and made a right pigs ear of that.

The ordinary cops at Portimao are to be congratulated on their diligent work, but Amaral messed up badly ... ably assisted by some of his senior officers

And now,are we finding that he breached Secrecy Laws.  Jeez !

Only in the eyes of the mccanns and those who support them sadie.

As to 'secrecy laws', how do you breach something that is already in the public domain ?

............and try not to believe everything emanating from the mccann camp.

[Anna]

Back on topic please

[Alice Purjorick]

Those factors however do not appear to have cut it with the judge at the trial.

The judges considered libel, not Portuguese secrecy laws.

Breach of secrecy laws may be a consideration of (subsequent) criminal proceedings in Amaral's crowded schedule of court proceedings ...

I think I had worked that out.
But they are sure taking a long time doing anything about the secrecy bit don't they?

[Brietta]

As much of the archived investigation has been put into the public domain quite legally in Portugal I would suggest comparing The Official Secrets Act of the UK with Judicial Secrecy in Portugal is inappropriate.
We do not know with any degree of certainty that the controlling magistrate did not give him [Dr Amaral] permission to use selected documents as sources for his book do we ?
For all I know he [Dr Amaral] may be .........t little s**t on the face of the earth, bent as a dockers hook and the book bootlegged from official sources without permission. Those factors however do not appear to have cut it with the judge at the trial.

I think you may be wrong about the legality of the PJ files being posted en mass on the internet by a blogging journalist.

Can you give another example when case files have been so published ... for example Jacinta Reese who apparently committed suicide by whacking herself over the head repeatedly with an axe? or the murder of Rachel Charles? or Joana Cipriano?

It is my understanding that the files can be read by interested parties, lawyers, journalists in the interests of transparancy and that is it ... unless you can clearly state otherwise I would consider that their release on the internet was illegal.



IMO there is no dichotomy between the Official Secrets Act in Britain and Judicial Secrecy Law in Portugal.