But three days later and with the change in Law, The PJ would not have been allowed to do this.
What does that tell you?
I don't want to haggle over the date the law changed. I believe Brietta has previously stated 8 days.
But I don't think it makes a difference. The trigger was the McCanns making plain before the interviews that they were to leave Portugal in the near future.
You have seen the rigmarole that occurs when OG wants to interview someone, whether as a witness or an arguido, in Portugal. There is another case active in Portugal where the 'suspect' has moved to Brazil, and people here are indignant because they don't understand why the man has not been arrested in Brazil. They don't understand the process one sovereign country has to go through when the alleged suspect is in another sovereign country.
As to what might have happened if the McCanns had not made plain they were leaving, who knows.
The reason I say this is because I am bemused by what evidence OG can possibly have for their 4 arguidos, but it seems to have sufficed for whoever in Portugal assesses the request and decides whether to grant it or not.