@ John
It looks like your scepticism re Sergey Malinka is being proved ever more correct day by day.
One of the questions we [on CMOMM] put to Malinka during his brief sojourn with us was whether he would confirm or deny the statement made by Robert Murat on 11 July 2007 to the PJ that he was with Malinka (and Michaela Walczuk) in the Batista supermarket café on the morning of Wednesday 2 May, and that the two men then left the café together, while Walczuk went her separate way. He was evasive and would not give a straight answer as to whether his friend Murat was correct or not.
(Incidentally, it should be recalled that this was Murat's second statement. He made his first one on 15 May, the date he was made an arguido. On that occasion, he had told the PJ he had been somewhere completely different. In fact, he had to change his first statement in at least 17 material respects, his hand being forced by the PJ confronting him with the mobile antenna pings from his mobile 'phone, which showed that on several occasions during those 3 days he was miles away from where he had claimed to be).
Upthread, 'Miss Taken Identity' said of Malinka's promo video: "His video is good".
And so it is. It is a professionally produced, polished narrative, illustrated with drone footage of a clearly depressed Malinka trudging across some Algarve scrub-land. The images of a drowning man struggling and trying and then succeeding in resurfacing are artful. The scenes are carefully cut and woven together with a convincing narrative. Which runs thus:
"Poor me. Thrust innocently into the spotlight due to a simple misunderstanding about a missed phone call. All on my own with no family or friends to support me, a lonely Russian faced with hostile forces and media which have ruined my career".
One of Malinka's many problems is that his narrative is simply untrue, given all that we now know about his various business ventures.
Moreover, his friend and co-author & co-promoter David S Jones must also know that Malinka's promo video bears little relation to the facts.
One also has to wonder how he will fare if these allegations (quoted by Bernice upthread) are ever printed in a book:
MALINKA: Portuguese police discredited itself the long time ago, and believe you me I could easily go to the media or ministry of justice and would tell how I was treated by Amaral and his coworkers that day in an interrogation room [nothing, not even bread or water]. And if I would he would more problems that defending his book from McCanns. Plus he wouldn't look like a knight in shining armor after he beating up scared Russian boy, would he?
CMOMM MEMBER: Are you now also telling us that Amaral had you locked in a car all day, without food and water, and had you beaten up?
MALINKA: Not him, but his colleagues did. The officer who got physical with me was called Pereira. Amaral was bang out of order as well at the end of the interrogation, to be honest.
