McCanns vow to fight Gonçalo Amaral in the European Courts? by Joana Morais
published 30 April 2017
"It seems increasingly clear that McCann case is no longer about what happened to a little girl, but an attempt — some say cover-up — to absolve "upstanding Brits" of any responsibility, conveniently blaming Portugal, the poor man of Europe, for a botched investigation and overall ineptness." - Chris Freind, 2013
VIDEO
McCanns exclusive interview to the BBC | Photo: Joe Giddens/PA
On what is said to be an exclusive interview to be broadcast today by the BBC (for an undisclosed amount), the McCanns vow to take Gonçalo Amaral to the European Court of Human Rights, because “the last judgement is terrible”. True to their character, their blatant disregard for freedom of expression, constitutional rights and vindictiveness levelled at the former inspector of the Judiciary Police knows no bounds.
No one can forget that Kate McCann once had this to say about the former inspector: "He [Gonçalo Amaral] deserves to be miserable and feel fear." No one can also forget that the money that was donated to fund the search for Madeleine has been used to pay for a relentless PR campaign against the former inspector, but also against the Judiciary Police, against the Portuguese institutions and authorities since 2007. That same money donated by the caring and concerned public world-wide to the search fund turned into a legal fund used to attempt to silence the former inspector, numerous newspapers in Portugal and abroad, TV channels and anyone who would dare to present, factually, a thesis that didn't meet the McCann's criteria - a criteria that is based on the image the couple wishes to project to the world. The fund was also used to at least once pay for the McCann's mortgage and in detectives that were far more experienced in dealing with corporate spying, in mediocre rent-a-cops, some of which attempted to exert pressure in the PJ officers working in the case and it is alleged that some have even created fake leads and unexistent connections to dead little girls, victims without a name, only to sustain the abduction thesis, wasting police time and resources.
Unlike what the couple alleges in this BBC exclusive and has done in numerous other interviews along the years, the investigation in Portugal was archived, mainly, due to the lack of cooperation of the British authorities (ex. refusing to send financial information) and the McCanns' friends unwillingness to cooperate with the Portuguese police, when for example, the crucial step of doing a reconstruction, in situ, with the whole group was refused because "it wouldn't have media benefits" i.e. it wouldn't be televised. And also because even before the McCanns were constituted as arguidos by the Portuguese prosecutors there was an enormous pressure, both political and economic, on the Portuguese authorities to investigate this case solely as an abduction, sabotaging all the other hypotheses the PJ attempted to explore. The English tabloid media distortion that was echoed in the world-media, was then and is now, essentially a calculated PR game to stir nationalistic emotions, to create a xenophobic rivalry intended to belittle the Portuguese authorities and whitewash the couple, this also played a role in the investigation archival.
The fact that the PJ has lost the public opinion battle is largely the fault of their successive national directors, Justice and Public ministers, who since 2007 allowed unscrupulous PR men and hacks to exert an enormous pressure on the PJ officers, their men to be crucified in the media and did not prevent the re-writing of the facts and events of investigation. Releasing the case files after the investigation was an unusual excellent step but was insufficient PR wise.
In essence, since the investigation was archived in Portugal the McCanns could have asked their friends, the group nicknamed Tapas seven, to come forward and take part of a police reconstruction, very needed to clarify the many contradictions in the whole group statements, that would also pressure the Portuguese prosecutors to reopen the investigation since the reconstruction could not take place with the investigation archived. That step and plenty other alternatives to pressure for the reopening were never used by the couple nor by their friends. Which begs the question, where are the friends of the McCann couple now, who left Praia da Luz soon after Maddie's disappearance and whose contradictory and polemic statements were never confronted, who never helped in that crucial step that could have helped find or at least establish the truth of what happened to the little girl?
Instead what we were offered a few years later was a farcical reconstruction, a Met police/BBC co-production, in no way different from other misleading re-enactments, that used actors, including a porn actor, filmed in a coastal village in Spain - a crimewatch that was forbidden to be broadcast in Portugal. More could be said about a police force that seemed to be working in tandem with the media, for the media, that wasted £11 million of the British tax payer's money in nice photoshoots in the Algarve and decided from the start to exempt the McCanns and their group of friends from any suspicion. That onion it seems, was never meant to be peeled. What to say about the fact that the British ex-pat community in Praia da Luz, have never heard about the sexual predator that only targeted white English girls (see Paul Luckman's interview, the editor of The Portugal News to BBC radio), oddly a Met press release that is no longer available online, nor about the recent far-fetched and unverified tabloid story of nannies using rape-whistles in that idyllic fishing village of Luz.
Continuing with the sound-bites published today, it is also untrue the couple has "been formally cleared by the Portuguese". The McCanns have been alleging that they have been exonerated in multiple interviews for years, via their PR people, or unnamed sources. There's no doubt they have tried to use the legal action against Gonçalo Amaral to have some sort of official document declaring that they were innocent, or rather not guilty, of any wrongdoings without ever being tried in a proper court. Both Lisbon Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Justice judges understood the tactical manoeuvre they were attempting and refuted their substantiations. The judges reasonings were made in accordance with the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and its related case law, and are very clear. It's doubtful they'll even meet the requirements to make an application. It should also be noted that the ECtHR cannot deal with complaints against individuals, so if the McCanns are going to sue anyone that will have to be the Portuguese state.
As to the trolls and fake news, maybe the McCann couple, their family, their unnamed sources, their PR people and also the media that had a role in it should apportion blame for igniting the online vigilantes who have effectively caused the death of an innocent woman and for allowing, since they have never addressed this fact publicly, their followers to stalk, harass, threat anyone who dares to oppose the McCanns' version of events.
https://joana-morais.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mccanns-vow-to-fight-goncalo-amaral-in.html 
