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There are multiple mixed messages as the
parents of missing Madeleine McCann are
reported to be taking their three-time
court defeat in Portugal to the very
last point of appeal: the European Court
of Human Rights.
British tabloids are already presenting
the new situation as ‘a given’ - the
Mail for example, claims “it is
understood that the result of the appeal
will not be known for at least four
years”.
But the truth is that it may not even
get accepted.
The ECHR website carries no details of
the action (believed to have been lodged
in July) for the simple reason that it
must first be considered to merit this
final avenue of legal recourse - an
outcome many believe is unlikely.
The reasons for this is that the 75-page
judgement the McCann parents are
challenging - handed down by Portugal’s
highest court - cited tenets set out by
the ECHR, not to mention rights
enshrined in the Portuguese
Constitution.
As a source explained, “the parents have
been told three times that the theory
published by former PJ police
coordinator Gonçalo Amaral did not
overstep the bounds of freedom of
expression”.
“Furthermore, the UK press fails to
understand that Maddie’s parents can
only make a case against the Portuguese
state, and not against an individual
person.
“For Gonçalo Amaral, the case is over.
Done and dusted. He won, and the McCanns
can’t ignore the decision simply because
they are going to the ECHR”.
“Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira” (Maddie:
The Truth of the Lie) is back on sale
and has purportedly been published and
translated in France, the Netherlands,
Germany, Denmark, Spain and Belgium.
An English translation has been
available online for years, and “read by
millions” (click
here).
But according to the UK Sun - which led
with an ‘exclusive’ yesterday on what it
is calling “a last ditch appeal” against
a “shameless ex police chief” - the
reasons for the McCann’s new legal bid
lie not simply in the fact that they
“are desperately upset at Amaral’s
claims”, but also that they are
“shattered” that Portugal’s top judges
did not accept that they had
“successfully proved their innocence”.
This was perhaps the most devastating
outcome of the Supreme Court ruling, and
one which saw UK tabloids go into
overdrive (click
here).
In other words, this is no longer a
fight against what the Sun terms “the
outrageous slurs of the Truth of the
Lie”, but a battle now against
Portuguese Justice.
As a legal source has commented: "The
McCanns have effectively to prove that
the Supreme Court made a massive
mistake".
The appeal bid could also be seen as
another way of stalling the hugely
expensive outcome of all these years of
painful litigation.
The Sun explains: “So far no money has
been paid by either party”.
In January, the Mail suggested that the
McCanns “could now face financial ruin
as they face paying Gonçalo Amaral huge
court costs and could be sued themselves
by the former policeman”.
Amaral, for the time being, is keeping
his counsel.
Marking the 10-years since Madeleine’s
disappearance during a family holiday in
Praia da Luz, he gave a series of
interviews to the Cofina media group in
which he repeated his theory, as set out
in the ‘Truth of the Lie’, explaining
all the reasons for it (click
here).
Since then he has kept a low profile.
Meantime, the Metropolitan Police are
seeking renewed funding for Operation
Grange - the probe that has already cost
over £11 million looking for answers in
this unparalleled case (click here),
while streaming service Netflix is said
to be making a new eight-part
documentary on Madeleine’s
disappearance, interviewing “key figures
and investigators”.
Parents Kate and Gerry have “refused to
be involved”, writes the Sun -
highlighting the word refused in
capitals.
The McCann’s reasoning, says the
tabloid, is that Grange “is still
active” - though a decision on whether
or not to extend funding, and therefore
keep Grange alive, has yet to be made
public.
Ten years and four months on, and the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann shows
absolutely no sign of disappearing.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com |
