Madeleine McCann: Profits From Amaral’s Book ‘Arrested’

MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann: Portuguese organ Espresso reports Goncalo’s Amaral’s book has been “arrested” (seized?) – apologies for the translation (via Joana Morais):

The Civil Court of Lisbon has ordered the arrest of all the profits that were obtained through the sale of the book “Maddie, the truth about the lie”, by former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral, following a process that was filed by the parents of the little English girl that disappeared in the Algarve in May 2007.

by Ricardo Marques

According to the court order, the editors that published the book have already been notified that all profits from the cession and sale of the book will be arrested for the eventual payment of an amount of 1,2 million euro.

The court notifications about this injunction have already been sent to Italy, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, countries where the book has been translated and published.

Gonçalo Amaral, the inspector who led the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in 2007, was removed from the case after statements that he made to the media.

Read on:

The investigation into the disappearance of the 3.year-old English girl, in Praia da Luz, was archived on the 21st of July 2008.

In September, under an order from the Civil Court, the book had already been removed from the shelves.

The book “Maddie, the truth about the lie” was published in July 2008, by editors Guerra & Paz, and in the two following months had 12 editions, of 10 thousand copies each.

Amaral has released a press release - translation via Joana Morais:

PRESS RELEASE

It may be written in every law that a citizen is free to think and to express his thoughts, but that will become completely worthless if it can be targeted by censorship whenever it expresses an opinion that is contrary to the status quo, to the interests of the dominant caste or to who simply has money.

The confrontation of responsible theses about objective facts should take place in the open field of democratic debate and not through recourse to courts and to juridical coercion. And yet, as is publicly known, a Portuguese court has immortalised the book “The Truth about the Lie” by deciding what cannot be opined and expressed in Portugal about the disappearance of Madeleine Beth McCann, by censoring a thesis that is based on logical reasoning about concrete facts and material evidence that are part of a criminal process and that never intended to diffuse, to the public, in a gratuitous and irresponsible manner, the notion that third parties have any kind of responsibility in the disappearance of little Madeleine.

Even more serious. Having already been notified about the preventive attachment of his funds, the signatory fears that he may be prevented from defending his reasons in court, due to the very high monetary cost that the judicial action that has been filed against him by Gerry and Kate McCann impose to him, in terms of lawyers’ expenses and millionaire judicial costs, from which, it would seem, only the impoverished are exempt.

Whereupon it follows that, at the moment, the signatory is not only deprived of his elementary right to freedom of expression, as he also faces constraints relating to his own defence, which cannot be designed but under the shadow of the expression of forbidden ideas and convictions, and in exchange for absolutely insufferable pecuniary amounts.

Thus the truth about the disappearance of Madeleine is at risk of being decided in the office. This is how we live in Portugal, as far as freedom and democracy are concerned.

GONÇALO AMARAL

The McCanns are innocent. There is no proof that Madeleine McCann is not alive. For a man who could have solved the case, for him to then seek finanacial profit from it, is without honour…

Anorak

Posted: 21st, October 2009 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (7) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink