Joana Morais

The Court of Faro condemned today Leonor Cipriano to seven more months in jail for making false accusations in the process which incriminated five Judiciary Police officers of the crimes of aggression and torture.

This jail sentence is added to the 16 years that the arguida is serving for the murder of her daughter Joana - who disappeared from the village of Figueira, in Portimão, on September 12 2004 - and of which she has served about half.

According to the court, it was proved that Leonor Cipriano lied about the way in which the officers had beaten her, having presented in trial different versions of the facts that took place during the questionings to which she was subjected to, in 2004, after the crime.

According to the judge who delivered the judgement today, despite not having taken oath, the arguida in the quality of assistant to the process, was warned that she could not misrepresent the truth, at the risk of being punished and if she had done it, she did it "because she wanted" and in a conscient manner.

The court considered the illegality of the act committed takes on a "grave aspect" and is "above average", given the long sentence the arguida is serving, the seriousness of the facts, the quality of the arguidos [the five PJ officers accused by Leonor Cipriano] and the media coverage of the case.

"It is crystal clear the arguida misrepresented the truth [lied]", states the ruling, which highlights the several contradictions relative to the manner in which she alleges she was beaten and to the agents that were present in the interrogation room where she alleged to have been attacked.

The possibility of a suspended prison sentence was dismissed because the court considered that, despite the long jail sentence that the arguida is already serving, she continued to show disrespect for the rules.

The court also added that it would be "naive" to believe that a "mere threat" of imprisonment would contribute to the "recovery" of the arguida, who was waived today of appearing in court to hear the reading of the judgement.

The contradictory statements about the aggressions that she was a target were made between 2008 and 2009, at the time of the trial¹ of the inspectors who investigated the "Joana Case", which resulted in the condemnation of two of the five arguidos in that process.

That court gave has proven the aggressions even though the identity of the attackers was never established.

Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the Criminal Department of Investigation of the Judiciary Police of Portimão was absolved of the crime of omission to denunciate [failing to complaint] and condemned to one and a half year for the crime of false statement, with a suspended sentence for the same period time.

The inspector António Nunes Cardoso was condemned to two years and three months for the falsification of a document, with a suspended sentence of two years.

The former Judiciary Police inspectors Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, Leonel Morgado Marques and Paulo Marques Bom, who were accused of having tortured Leonor Cipriano during the questionings² at the headquarters of the PJ of Faro, were all absolved.

In jail, Leonor Cipriano is attending the 9th grade of school and has still as an activity the placement of labels in fruit cases, the court said adding that the detainee does not receive visits from friends or family.

Leonor's brother, João Cipriano, is also serving a 16 years jail sentence for the crimes of homicide and concealment of a corpse.

in Lusa news agency/TVI, April 2 2013

Notes
1 - Leonor Cipriano's lawyer at the time of the trial against the five Judiciary Police inspectors was Marcos Aragão Correia who had a pivotal role intertwining the Maddie and the Joana cases; the Lawyers Order head of the bar, Marinho Pinto, timely requested for the order to become assistant for the accusation and was represented by Rodrigo Santiago, thus annulling the possibility of asking Marinho Pinto to testify in relation to the Expresso 2005 "torture" article pictured above.

2 - Leonor Cipriano had already confessed to her crimes on October 13 2004, and was accompanied by her lawyer at the time, Célia Costa, during the questioning before the alleged aggressions on October 14 2004 took place.

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Related

ab) at a certain point in time, due to a motive that has not been exactly established, both arguidos started, conjointly, to successively hit minor CC on the head, prompting her to hit her head on the wall’s corner, being visible that she bled, from her mouth, her nose and her temple, due to the hits against the wall, which also caused the minor’s fall and her death, thus ceasing the arguidos’ activity;

ac) traces of blood from the minor remained on the living room’s walls and floor, on various spots, and also near the entrance;

ad) the arguidos ensured that CC was dead, verifying that she neither breathed nor reacted, and then, not wanting to be held responsible over their daughter’s and niece’s death, decided to prevent said death from becoming known to others;

ae) therefore, they soon decided that they would have to ensure that the existence of any signs in the house of what they had just done could not be verified, that the minor’s body would never be found and that, preferably, everyone would be convinced that the minor had been taken by a third party;

af) therefore, arguida BB remained at home, washing the wall and the floor that had signs of blood from CC, as well as the spot where the minor remained slumped after death, using a mop and its bucket to do so.

(...)

aah) the arguidos managed to disturb the investigative activities and prevented the mortal remains of minor CC, whose life they took, from being located;

aai) the aforementioned activities were carried out by the arguidos under concerted efforts and intentions, in a deliberate, free and conscious manner, fully knowing that those behaviours are punished by law;

aaj) therefore as far as taking the life of CC, their direct relative (daughter and niece), is concerned, which they did by employing force, taking advantage of the fact that she couldn’t defend herself (taking into account her age and physical built) and using force in the full knowledge that, considering the vital area in which her body was hit (the head) repeatedly and violently, prompting the minor’s head to hit the wall, they could take her life away from her, a consequence which they accepted, still not ceasing their activity;

aal) not seeing as an obstacle the circumstance that the minor depended on her mother and was a direct relative of both, and should be defended instead of victimised by them;

aam) in the same deliberate, free and conscious manner, and knowing that such behaviour is punishable, they carried out the above described action of cutting CC’s body, demonstrating total insensibility, knowing full well that, in this manner, they offended the communitarian respect that is due to the dead, acting with the purpose of CC’s body never being found again, hiding it in a location that is not appropriated for the effect, in order to try to avoid responsibility for her death;

Extracts from Supreme Court of Justice - ruling on the Homicide and concealment of eight-year-old Joana Cipriano's body, 20.04.2006 [in Portuguese here]

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Faro: In question are the accusations of aggressions by Judiciary Police officers

by João Mira Godinho

The different versions that she presented about the alleged aggressions that she was a victim of at the headquarters of the Judiciary Police of Faro, took Leonor Cipriano yesterday to the Court of Faro. Joana's mother - who is doing a jail time of 16 years for the murder of her daughter - answers for false accusations.

Yesterday, Leonor, 42 years old, repeated what she had said in court, back in 2008, during the trial of the five inspectors of the Judiciary Police - including Gonçalo Amaral and Paulo Pereira Cristovão - for [alleged] aggressions during the questionings, at the time of Joana's death investigation, back in 2004.

Leonor repeated that, at the Judiciary Police of Faro headquarters, the officers beat her up "with punches and kicks", that they beat her "with a cardboard tube", that they placed "a blue plastic bag over her head" and that they hit her with a "phone book".

However, in the answers to the Public Ministry and to the Judge, Joana's mother [and convicted murderer] contradicted herself: she was unable to give the timing of the aggressions, she stated the tube was made of plastic and she affirmed that she had always been sitting down, when before she had stated that she had been forced to stay on her knees, on the top of ashtrays.

"This was an important moment in her life and it would be expected, even for the numerous times she has been asked the same questions, that she had kept it in her memory" argued the Public Ministry prosecutor, concluding that Leonor "insists on lying" and that she should be condemned to a jail sentence [for those lies].

The defence attorney* alleged that Leonor Cipriano "has difficulties in explaining herself", which, allied to a situation "in which the discernment wasn't the best", explains the contradictions.

The sentence was scheduled for the 14th of March.

In 2009, at the trial of the PJ officers, the court ruled as proven that there was an aggression however they were unable to identify the perpetrators.

in Correio da Manhã, March 5 2013

Note by JM: * Marcos Aragão Correia has taken an extended leave in Brazil whilst Marinho Pinto, apparently decided that the Lawyers Order should not go on being an assistant of her defence. Leonor, as a poor woman, was left with a court-appointed (defence) counsel. I guess now that she has served the McCanns' purpose and other people interests, she can be discarded!

Immediately Related

Leonor Cipriano court started today, for making false statements against Judiciary Police officers

Related Videos
Maddie and Joana Crossing Paths, SIC, 17-02-2009
Portuguese only, English summary here


Without a trace of Joana, RTP, 15-10-2008
English transcript here

Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça disappeared on the 4th of March 1998. He was eleven years old. Fifteen years later to that day, the man who took Rui Pedro was condemned for his kidnap, and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in jail.

Background

In an interview given to RTP in 1998, Afonso Dias, 21 years old at that time, confirmed that he was the last person to be with Rui Pedro. On March 3, the day before the disappearance, Afonso, reportedly had arranged a meeting for the following day in the afternoon, between a prostitute, Rui Pedro and another child, Rui Pedro's cousin. However, on the 4th, the cousin’s mother didn’t allow the boy to go out with his friends. Filomena, Rui Pedro's mother, had already forbidden her son of playing with Afonso Dias.

Filomena thought that Rui was riding his bike in the usual safe place, near Lousada's junior high school. Instead, Rui was in Afonso's car. They travelled together in the regional road 106, in Lustosa direction.

Upon arriving to Lustosa, Afonso contacted a local prostitute, Alcina, and asked her to have sex with the child. Alcina hesitated, and Rui Pedro obviously distressed, started trembling and cried. Alcina ended up refusing the service, but kept a small conversation with Rui Pedro. After that, the child entered in Afonso Dias's car and was never seen again.

The reconstruction of that day was made in 2002, by the Judiciary Police with the help of, the then and now, primary and only suspect, Afonso Dias.

Rui Pedro suffered epilepsy seizures, one of the hypotheses that was advanced was that Rui Pedro suffered a severe convulsion which caused memory loss or his premature death.

Opposing Sentences


Afonso Dias was acquitted at the Court of first instance of Lousada in February 2012. That Court, presided by judge Carla Fraga, based its decision on the "weaknesses" and "lack of consistency" of the testimony of the prostitute Alcina Dias, who, at the trial, guaranteed that she had been with Rui Pedro in March 4, 1998.

The family's lawyer, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, challenged the acquittal, arguing that the judgement of the Court of Lousada had been 'intoxicated' by the first investigative team of inspectors of the Judiciary Police that had dismissed the testimony of the prostitute, Alcina Dias, who assured at the time, that she saw Rui Pedro leaving in Afonso Dias' car.

The Public Ministry prosecutor, Amaro Neves and the child's parents, who constituted themselves as assistants to the process, sustained that it was after that meeting that Rui Pedro disappeared.

Today, the Court of Appeals of Porto gave reason to the appeal made by the Public Ministry, and partially to the appeal made by Rui Pedro's family and decided to condemn the only suspect for kidnap, Afonso Dias, to 3 years and 6 months of effective jail.

Paulo Gomes, Afonso Dias lawyer, stated that he will appeal against the latest ruling to the Supreme Court of Justice.

Reactions


«When justice is done, when a judge, a court makes justice, this "washes the faces of us all". For me this is a very important day, very important for Filomena and for Manuel Mendonça [Rui Pedro's parents] (...), but it is above all a very important day to Rui Pedro because Rui Pedro may be alive and we will continue the search for him. And if he is not alive, his memory deserves that we carry on, until we know what happened to him.»

«It is the first victory, but not the last, the last victory will be when we know what happened to Rui Pedro», said emotionally, the family's lawyer Ricardo Sá Fernandes.

Filomena, Rui Pedro's mother, said that the decision by the court represents «a glimmer of hope and a little light at end of the tunnel». She added, «It's already something. It acknowledges what we always had thought, that he (Afonso Dias) is guilty, and is therefore a confirmation».

Filomena Teixeira now hopes that the arguido, and then friend of Rui Pedro, breaks the silence that he has maintained regarding to what happened to Rui Pedro 15 years ago. «It is about time!»

Questioned about what she intends to do, Filomena said: «From now on, it's to fight to find Rui Pedro, alive or dead».

Today's decision, that condemned the arguido, Afonso Dias, to three years and six months of effective jail, coincides exactly with the 15th anniversary of the disappearance of Rui Pedro.

---

Note by JM: Mr. and Mrs. McCann, we do hope that you don't try, like you did in March 2011 to use this tragedy once again in your propaganda. You see, unlike you, Rui Pedro's parents did EVERYTHING in their power to keep Rui Pedro's case open in order to try to find out what happened to their son. Unlike you, Rui Pedro's parents were the FOUNDERS of the Association for Portuguese Missing Children, a real CHARITY and not a PRIVATE COMPANY. Unlike you, they used their OWN MONEY to search for their child. Unlike you, they have HELPED other families and parents of missing children instead of (ab)using them - need I mention names? So, please, keep what's left of the dignity you still have and leave this family, this child, this case alone. And while at it, stop desecrating Joana Cipriano's memory. Thank you.

Leonor Cipriano trial starts today at Faro. The woman is accused for having allegedly made ​​false statements, when she complained that she had been assaulted by Judiciary Police officers.

Some officers [in the previous trial] were acquitted, and the Court concluded then that Leonor Cipriano had lied. The trial starts in the afternoon, at 14.00, at the criminal court of first instance in Faro.

in Sic Notícias, 4 March 2013

In 2009: Court states that Leonor Cipriano lied

The Court of Faro will request the Public Ministry to open a judicial inquiry on Leonor Cipriano over the crime of false statements in the trial of present and former PJ inspectors within the “Joana case”.

In the ruling, that was read out on Friday and which the Lusa Agency accessed today, the collective of judges considered that the statements that Leonor Cipriano produced during the trial sessions contained “flagrant and relevant contradictions”, and therefore determined that a certificate should be extracted, to which a copy of the tape recordings was added.

In the verdict, it is mentioned that the mother of the child that disappeared on the 12th of September 2004, in the village of Figueira, in Portimão, “was offered (…) an extensive opportunity to reveal the truth” during the trial sessions at the Court of Faro, but “essentially seized the opportunity to lie”.

“Leonor Cipriano lied about the manner in which she was beaten, about the identification of the persons that beat her, about the time and the manner how she revealed that she had been beaten, in short, she lied about every essential aspect of the statements that she gave”, the verdict stresses.

Underlining that Leonor Cipriano presented “no plausible reason whatsoever to have done so”, the collective of three judges, presided by Henrique Pavão, considered that Joana’s mother revealed “major contradictions” and that she presented “very different versions for one and the same fact”.

The verdict, which will also be sent to the PJ’s Department of Discipline and Inspection, where an inquiry is being held against present inspectors António Cardoso and Paulo Marques Bom, considered the aggressions as proved, although without establishing the aggressors’ identity, and determined the condemnation of two of the five arguidos in the process.

Gonçalo Amaral, a former coordinator of the PJ’s Criminal Investigation Department in Portimão, who was acquitted of the crime of omission of denunciation, was condemned to one and a half years over the crime of false deposition, with a suspended sentence over a similar period.

Inspector António Nunes Cardoso, who is still in service, was condemned to two years and three months over forgery of document, with a suspended sentence over two years.

Former PJ inspectors Paulo Pereira Cristóvão and Leonel Morgado Marques and still inspector Paulo Marques Bom, who all stood accused of the crimes of torture against Leonor Cipriano, following the questioning at the PJ in Faro, in 2004, were acquitted.

Leonor Cipriano and her brother, João Cipriano, were condemned by the Supreme Court of Justice to 16 years in prison each, over the crimes of homicide and concealment of Joana’s cadaver.

in Diário de Notícias, 25.05.2009

Also Related
Cipriano Case: Leonor Cipriano Confessed the Murder of the daughter Joana
«Leonor Confessed the crime on the 13th of October and she alleges she was beaten a day later. Leonor Cipriano, the killer meanwhile condemned, confessed all of this facts to the PJ on the 13th of October 2004, in the presence of her lawyer, who at the time was Célia Costa, who has also signed statements that were given to the Inspector Pereira Cristovão. Leonor's brother, João Cipriano, had previously confessed the crimes a few days before, on the 8 of October.»

Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer confesses to lying to obtain a confession
«Lawyer Aragão Correia, who defends Leonor Cipriano, Joana’s mother, told TSF this Tuesday that he lied to obtain a written confession from João Cipriano, who revealed that he tried to sell the child.»

Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer confesses to having used “creepy” method
«Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer confessed that he obtained a statement from his client’s brother “based on absolutely forbidden methods”. In it, João Cipriano assumed that he had tried to sell his niece Joana. This, at least, is the understanding of the Public Ministry in Portimão, after analysing, and refusing, the request from Marcos Aragão Correia for a revision of the sentence that was applied to Joana’s mother, who has been condemned to 16 years and eight months in prison over qualified homicide and concealment of a cadaver. It is now up to the process’ judge to decide whether or not he accepts the appeal. According to the Public Ministry’s decision, the jurist – in the document in which he requested the revision of the appeal – presented a confession from João Cipriano “that could be used as the basis for a movie scene”. In that written document, Aragão Correia confesses to having invented a story to fool Joana’s uncle: a police source allegedly told him that an inmate intended to murder Leonor’s brother.»

Detectives Hired by the «McCanns want to Frame Gonçalo Amaral
«Método 3, the Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns, tried to convince Leonor Cipriano's Lawyer to change the course of defense. The agency operational wanted to make of Gonçalo Amaral - the former coordinator of the PJ of Portimão, responsible for the investigation to the disappearance of Madeleine and Joana, the main target, through the intersection of the two cases.»

‘Spanish detectives asked me to arrange for evidence against Gonçalo Amaral’
«The lawyer who cooperated with Método 3 makes surprising revelations - Maddie’s parents divined their daughter’s death - Satanic societies and secret services involved in the Maddie Case - McCann detectives asked me to get proofs against Gonçalo Amaral'»

Joana Cipriano Case
«The court heard a catalogue of horrifying details, including an earlier video taped confession from Joana’s uncle in which he recalled the circumstances of his niece’s murder. This video testimony is now the subject of an appeal from the defence team who claim it should be excluded because the couple exercised their right to remain silent during the trial. In the taped confession, João Cipriano said he and his sister hit Joana who then banged her head against a wall before collapsing, unconscious, onto the floor. João Cipriano claimed that he had wanted to call an ambulance but that his sister prevented him, telling him instead to go to Joana’s stepfather and inform him that she had disappeared.»

Supreme Court of Justice - 'Joana case' ruling - Part I
Supreme Court of Justice - 'Joana case' ruling - Part II
Supreme Court of Justice - 'Joana case' ruling - Part III
Supreme Court of Justice - 'Joana case' ruling - Part IV
« ab) at a certain point in time, due to a motive that has not been exactly established, both arguidos started, conjointly, to successively hit minor CC on the head, prompting her to hit her head on the wall’s corner, being visible that she bled, from her mouth, her nose and her temple, due to the hits against the wall, which also caused the minor’s fall and her death, thus ceasing the arguidos’ activity;

ac) traces of blood from the minor remained on the living room’s walls and floor, on various spots, and also near the entrance;

ad) the arguidos ensured that CC was dead, verifying that she neither breathed nor reacted, and then, not wanting to be held responsible over their daughter’s and niece’s death, decided to prevent said death from becoming known to others;

ae) therefore, they soon decided that they would have to ensure that the existence of any signs in the house of what they had just done could not be verified, that the minor’s body would never be found and that, preferably, everyone would be convinced that the minor had been taken by a third party;

af) therefore, arguida BB remained at home, washing the wall and the floor that had signs of blood from CC, as well as the spot where the minor remained slumped after death, using a mop and its bucket to do so;»

.

«Police officers on Tuesday searched the Barcelona and Madrid offices of Método 3, the now-defunct private detective firm at the centre of a political spying scandal in Catalonia. Investigators, including two anti-corruption prosecutors, were seen bringing out boxes of confiscated documents from the buildings.

The agency's owner, Francisco Marco, and three other detectives at the agency were arrested on Monday. The entire case has rocked Spain's political foundations after recordings surfaced of a 2010 lunch conversation between the head of the Popular Party in Catalonia, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, and the former girlfriend of one of the sons of the region's ex-premier.

The ex-girlfriend, Victoria Álvarez, informed Sánchez-Camacho about Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's alleged money laundering activities in Andorra. Pujol Ferrusola is a son of former regional premier Jordi Pujol Soley, who served from 1980 to 2003.

Two of the suspects, Julián Peribañez and Alex Borrequero, who are still in custody, told investigators that they recorded the conversation "on the boss's orders" at the La Camarga restaurant in Barcelona. The ruling Catalan nationalist CiU bloc has organized a special squad of investigators and court personnel to help those politicians or other citizens who feel that they may have been spied on.» Extract from El País, 19 Feb. 2013

70.000 Euros for Madeleine's search

Método 3 grew with high-profiled media cases; their enemies label it as «scam agency» and now it's going to be a consultancy agency

by C. Morcillo/P. Muñoz

Each time a new chief of police arrived to Catalonia, one of the first invitations he would receive was that of Francisco Marco: a letter to invite him to have dinner at the restaurant “La Camarga”, which has been the hub of operations [spy activities] of the detective agency Método 3, near to its headquarters. The current police chief, Eugenio Castro, politely declined the invitation, however his predecessor and some of the previous ones shared table and cloth with the influential Marco, with a degree in Law and an expert in self-promotion. One of his mottoes is “let them speak about us, whether good or bad”, says one of his former colleagues.

Marco took to practice that popularity and in recent years his agency was a reference in the media, particularly after the parents of the British girl Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Portugal hired them to search her. Their hypothesis was that a paedophile ring had kidnapped her and in pursuit of that idea, according to the same sources, they charged about 70,000 euros [close to that amount per month], with continuous trips to Portugal, Morocco and Britain.

Ghost expenses

“It was a scam. They said they had fifteen people working on the case but no, there were just three. They made up invoices for hotel expenses and allowances for four people in the neighbouring country [Portugal] and only one person travelled there, who in addition didn't speak a word of Portuguese.”

Along with Madeleine's case - of which nothing was ever found - the fame reached Método 3 with the advent of the former secret service spy Francisco Paesa, who was “found” in Paris, after being presumed dead [he had published his own obituary].

Monitoring the vice-presidents of FC Barcelona and the involvement, which has yet to be clarified, of espionage of the current president of the Community of Madrid, Ignacio Gonzalez, are also included in the curriculum of this agency in which “thousands and thousands of euro have come in and no one know where they are”, says a detective who knows Método 3 track record.

Severance pay

The agency was created by Marita Fernández, the mother of Francisco Marco, in 1985. She had worked has a saleswoman for an Argentinian detective when she married her husband, a criminal lawyer. Since then they have lived years of success and constant commissions - although nothing to do with the 20,000 reports that were said to be destroyed by the director of Método 3 - to the point of giving work to other agencies and individuals (they subcontracted) and then signed themselves those jobs. Their wide list of staff included an accountant, and in recent years, a former policeman heading the IT department.

Juan Carlos Ruiloba was the chief of the Technological Crime Prevention unit at the Judiciary Police of Barcelona. Shifting to a second activity, he began working for Marco where he claimed he was very well paid.
A little over a year ago, when the agency started to be less the buoyant businesses that it had been, Ruiloba left Método 3. According to sources related to the investigation, part of the money that he was owed was recovered with electronic equipment. Last week this former police officer turn to his former colleagues at the Judiciary and handed material, supposedly “sensitive”. He had waited over a year to do so.

Out of hand investigations

He was not the only police officer connected to Método 3 director. In fact, during many years it was a common practice to resort to certain professionals, such as the Forensic Science Police [Lab], in order to do specific tests, particularly when they did not have any other means at their disposal.

The agency no longer exists officially since last November, in fact its director has several pending labour disputes with former employees. However Marco, with a curriculum and voluminous list of customers, was already converting their business into a security consulting firm, outside the police control to which detective agencies are subject.

Método 3 has also been inspected - inspection in the offices of detectives are annual - however he has eluded comfortably both administrative and criminal penalties. In 1995 his father, his mother, him and a brother were arrested for illegally tapping businessmen. In that case it was revealed that they had investigated the governor of the Bank of Spain, Mariano Rubio, and his wife Carmen Posadas. The investigation was filed.

In 2011, during a routine inspection, the Police detected serious irregularities, despite the proposed sanction, which arrived to Rubalcaba's Home Office - his brother has an excellent relationship with Marita Fernández - it was also unsuccessful.

In May last year the agency number two, Elisenda Villena, was arrested during the “Pitiusa Operation”* - in which hundreds of detectives and intermediaries were charged. The agency log book - mandatory where clients and those who are investigated are recorded, as well as the dates of the jobs carried out - disappeared, because it was lost in a “flood”, Método 3, again, was not penalized.

in ABC, 20 Feb. 2013

* “Pitiusa Operation” - A Barcelona court found complaints of professional intrusion crimes, bribery, disclosure of secrets and money laundering, with the majority of those arrested being detectives and private investigators, who bribed officials to obtain and sell confidential data to third parties.

Related

Detectives Hired by the «McCanns want to Frame Gonçalo Amaral
Método 3, the Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns, tried to convince Leonor Cipriano's Lawyer to change the course of defense. The agency operational wanted to make of Gonçalo Amaral - the former coordinator of the PJ of Portimão, responsible for the investigation to the disappearance of Madeleine and Joana, the main target, through the intersection of the two cases.»

‘Spanish detectives asked me to arrange for evidence against Gonçalo Amaral’
« The lawyer who cooperated with Método 3 makes surprising revelations - Maddie’s parents divined their daughter’s death - Satanic societies and secret services involved in the Maddie Case - McCann detectives asked me to get proofs against Gonçalo Amaral'»

More Metodo 3 "witnesses" : Lawyer Claims Madeleine Raped, Murdered and Dumped
«Marcos Teixeira Aragão Correia, a lawyer and a PND member , says that criminals from underworld contacted him on 6th May and that gave him details about Madeleine's rape & murder. He further claims that he had given this information to police who ignored it.»

Maddie Case: Scotland Yard discredits Spanish investigation
«The investigators of Scotland Yard, who are again working in the case of Madeleine's disappearance, came to the conclusion that steps taken in recent years by the Spanish detectives hired by the McCann couple have helped very little or nothing at all towards the discovery of what happened to the girl.»

In less than a month we had three Madeleine sightings, one of which was echoed by the parroting world media. Three sightings of dubious origins, three sightings that coincided with, at least, one major development of the McCann couple quest to stifle free speech and now, of a press already threatened by archaic libel laws.


For those of us who have followed this case since 2007 coincidences abound. So does spin, purposely published at calculated times to mislead or suppress information. A tactic used often by what has become known as 'Team McCann'.

On January 18, 2013 the vast majority of the Portuguese printed press published a Lusa news agency press release stating the that “The trial that opposes the McCann couple and Gonçalo Amaral, in which Madeleine’s parents demand a compensation of 1.2 million euro over alleged defamation by the former PJ inspector, has been suspended due to an attempt to reach an extrajudicial agreement.” This wasn't reported in the UK.

On January 20, 2013 the Express' James Murray, published 'Madeleine McCann kidnap photo shock', claiming that “Officers were happy for us to describe the potentially key evidence which shows a healthy fair-haired girl aged three or four in pink trousers, a green top and a blue hat (...) The photograph was allegedly taken in Brazil in June 2007 (...) The man suggests paedophile Raymond Hewlett, who died of throat cancer, aged 64, in Germany in 2010, was involved with others in the abduction (...) We can also reveal the man has been in contact with Isabel Duarte, Kate and Gerry McCann’s civil lawyer in Lisbon (...) The Yard may send the picture to FBI imaging experts in America for an opinion (...) This week the Yard is expected to ask detectives in Brazil to interview the man before considering whether to fly him to London.”

On the same day, Pamalam, who received an email by the man in Brazil, and Reggie Dunlop (member of The Maddie Case Files), found out that the 'Madeleine McCann kidnap shock picture' was indeed taken in June 2007 but in Ibiza, Spain. It was a picture from Associated Press, that had been published in a BBC news article illustrating the passengers being evacuated from Ibiza's airport after an anonymous bomb threat. I translated the email for Pamalam's site, and it was obvious from the first line, that it was a hoax by someone who had used news reports online to fabricate a story - motivated by money, publicity or something else is anyone's guess.

James Murray, Isabel Duarte, the McCanns, the Yard team, all of them had the same email, with exactly the same picture. None of them thought of tracing back the origins of the picture? None of them thought the wording in that email was bizarre, to say the least. Or did they? It seems other newspapers around the world were wiser, this story wasn't regurgitated anywhere else, except in the 'O Crime' Portuguese weekly tabloid who totally forgot to credit Pamalam and Reggie for debunking the Brazil email hoax.

On January 24, 2012, the journalist Hernâni Carvalho confirmed the “McCann couple lawyers had proposed a meeting to the other four defendant parties in order to reach an extrajudicial settlement.” This step taken by the McCanns was surprising and at the same time it was not. The implications of this out of court settlement, independently of what is to be agreed upon, can be quite damaging to the McCanns' quest.

A small recap on the McCanns legal actions in Portugal

The McCann couple successfully banned Mr. Amaral and his publishers, Guerra & Paz, book titled 'Maddie, The Truth of the Lie' with an injunction in 2009, that also prohibited the commercialization and broadcast of a documentary 'What Lies beneath the Truth', by Valentim de Carvalho and TVI channel respectively - demanding them to “collect, for destruction, all the books and videos that are still left at points of sale or other deposits or warehouses.”

In that process the McCann couple demanded for Gonçalo Amaral to be forbidden of “citing, analysing or commenting, verbally or in writing, on parts of the book or of the video that defend the thesis of death of the third Applicant or of the concealment of her body, by the two first Applicants”, also prohibiting the “reproduction of any comment, opinion or interview, where said thesis is defended or it can be inferred” and of “publishing statements, photographs, or any other documents that are allegedly connected to said book and video or said thesis”.

That injunction was overturned in 2010 by the Appeals Court in Lisbon mainly on the grounds of “the right of freedom of expression of thought that is constitutionally consecrated and furthermore the fact that the statements and facts that were published in the book are the mere reproduction of solid data that is part of the investigation that was started at due time, and that said statements and facts are even part of the investigation’s archiving dispatch that was signed by a Prosecutor of the Portuguese Republic.”

The books were only returned on April 25, 2012 the same day that BBC Panorama broadcast in the UK another biased documentary featuring DCI Andy Redwood as 'Clarence Mitchell'. It was never broadcast in Portugal.

In a parallel legal action in 2009, the McCanns asked for 1,2 million euro as compensation from Gonçalo Amaral. Another injunction was ordered, this time to secure the amount asked by the McCann couple [an astronomical amount based on what they said were Gonçalo Amaral's profits from the book sales royalties], freezing all of Amaral and his family assets, leaving him without any means, professionally and personally, to defend himself in court. A citizen's project 'Citizens for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms Project Justice Gonçalo Amaral', PJGA for short, was started to help Gonçalo Amaral regain his right to freedom of speech, followed by the creation of legal defence fund used exclusively for the payment of his judicial expenses.

In 2010, the McCanns asked for Gonçalo Amaral and his wife, Sofia Leal to execute a separation of assets - only possible with a divorce - in order to attain, besides his book authorship rights and half of his retirement pension, Gonçalo Amaral's part of the family house in Olhão. The marriage of ten years yielded to the pressure in February 2012.

Almost one year later, supposedly during the first week of January 2013, the McCanns, in an extemporaneous decision proposed an extrajudicial settlement to the same man, considered by the McCanns in their economic-with-the-truth book and in multiple interviews, to be their nemesis. Kindness of heart? I think not.

The McCann's out of court settlement request has not been published nor divulged in the UK.

Instead we had another coincidental story (re)surfaced in 'The Southland Times' [bylined by Brooke Gardiner] on the 4 of January 2013, republished from the 6 of February 2013 in the UK media, then reproduced world wide in the following days. That was the New Zealand sighting of a Madeleine look alike that had already made the news back in March 2010. A 2007 sighting of that same girl had already been dismissed by the New Zealand police in that same year (2010).

In February 6 2013, the McCanns lawyers in London, Carter Ruck, took a retired solicitor, Mr. Anthony Bennett to court for breaching an undertaking forbidding him of repeating, commenting, or giving his opinion on the Madeleine McCann case. Mr. Bennett has been, like many of us, trying to divulge and inform others about what is in the Judiciary Police case files to a misinformed public in the UK. For that, he now faces a possible jail sentence or/and a fine that will deprive him of his possessions. The ruling will be given on the 21st of February at the Royal Courts of Justice, the case of the McCanns versus Mr. Anthony Bennett can be followed here.

New Zealand Maddie sighting spanning 2007 - 2013

The picture of the New Zealand girl that was published in 2010 was taken from the Judiciary Police/Portimão's prosecutor process [not available in the case files released to the public in 2008], and was included in a 2000 pages dossier allegedly consisting of hundreds of “Maddie sightings around the world” and “psychic visions” previously ruled out from the PJ investigation. That dossier was distributed to the UK media in late February - early March 2010 by the Portuguese prosecutor in charge of the Maddie case process, upon...

Just a few days earlier, Isabel Duarte, the McCann's lawyer, in an impromptu press conference at Lisbon's Pálacio de Justiça talked about dozens of “shocking photos” [implying of a paedophilic nature] gathering dust in a dossier that had “never been followed” by the Judiciary Police team. Another theatrical attempt to distract the public about what had been said inside the court room, validating Gonçalo Amaral's thesis and book - a thesis shared by those who were involved in the investigation. Or was it an attempt at informing the UK journalists - vultures as Kate McCann described them in her book - present there that such a dossier existed? Some of the dossier pages have been published since then in the UK media with the usual xenophobic adjectives used to describe the Portuguese police.

At the time Gonçalo Amaral said, “These sightings, that are being talked about, almost always came from the English police, if they are so important, as some people are saying now, why weren't they investigated by Scotland Yard? After all, the little girl is a British citizen” and once again, as he has done since the process was archived in 2008 “The important things is not going around talking about sightings, saying that the little girl was seen here and there, the important thing is to reopen the process. The truth is that after I left Portimão, nothing more was done, the process was archived by the Public Ministry half way through, many diligences remained to be carried out, and that is what now allows for all sort of speculation.”

The dossier of “sightings” and “visions” are probably part of Andy Redwood's “195 leads” claims. The Portuguese Attorney General said at the time that the “new leads” uncovered by Scotland Yard were nothing more than “mere speculation”. Rightly so.

The New Zealand girl's family, after being forced to give their daughter's DNA to Scotland Yard, in order to establish what had already been established in 2010 - that she is not Madeleine McCann - can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully. On February 12, 2013 the New Zealand police released a 4th statement, which concluded: “Given that there is conclusive evidence that their daughter is not Madeleine McCann and has no connection to Madeleine McCann, it is only right that she and her family are entitled to a level of privacy that most of us enjoy. The family has asked that their privacy continues to be respected and do not want any contact from media.”

Other children were not so fortunate.

Bouchra Ahmed Ben Aissa, Tea Dedic, Leone Drpic, Nicole A'Hern, Carolina Santos, Sjanneke Hofstede.... How many more? And in the name of what exactly?

It seems as many as necessary to perpetuate the charade. As we can see in the following section.

'Мадлен Макканн' and the new McCanns self-appointed spokesman

Today, 15 of February another spin was created and regurgitated by the UK press [with extra spin sauce here] and Portuguese press. The origin? Graham Perry [Грэхэм Перри], the new self appointed McCanns spokesman.

It seems Mr. Perry belongs to the infamous HTFM [Help to Find Madeleine] organization that back in 2007 attempted to mass delete several youtube videos, used the murdered child Mari Luz Cortés in a poster and in mass-mailings without her parents consent. In brief, an organization whose volunteers, some at least, do a mix of astroturfing, cyberbullying and harassment online.


Graham Perry's comments can be found in the internet, everywhere where Madeleine's name is mentioned, ranging from the kind “raising awareness” to more abusive and odd comments. One thing is certain, Graham Perry is obsessed by Madeleine McCann as he himself admits.

According to Lifenews(dot)ru, Mr. Perry contacted Mr. Victor Yankov, community manager of a volunteer organization named “Find Missing Children”, presenting himself as an official representative of the McCann family.

Bare with me, it's a google translation:

A McCann close family friend from England contacted our volunteers. He asked to resume the search for the girl in Ukraine and Russia, and to make a special Russian-language guidance [poster], said the “Find Missing Children” community manager Victor Yankov. We have updated the guidance and distributed them to our Russian counterparts. He [Perry?] got in touch with us after one dying man confessed [Raymond Hewlett never confessed to having kidnapped Madeleine, he would be the perfect patsy, no doubt!] to have participated in the kidnapping of the child, which means that Maddie is alive and can be found in our countries.

Enters Graham, “Hello, I'm from the UK. My name is Graham Perry, a spokesman for the McCann family and a coordinator for the Find Madeleine, who coordinates the progress of the investigation. I'm sending you a picture of Madeleine for guidance in Russian. I'm sure it will be very helpful for Madeleine and her family.” Watch out, Clarence.

He adds, “I translated leaflets in all languages ​​because, according to her father, Gerry, she can be in any corner of the world, including in Russia.”

Lifenews(dot)ru then adds, “according to Mr. Perry, there is a big possibility that Maddie now has another name and may not speak the native language (...) Volunteers quickly contacted England and promised to make it available in the two countries (...) The association “Find Missing Children” in Russia have also confirmed that the search for the child has already begun (...) Activists were asked to connect to volunteers from all over the country for distribution and posting of orientations with photos of Maddie six years ago and a portrait composed by experts, suggesting how the girl might look now (...) Madeleine McCann can theoretically be anywhere in the world, but the family asked the Russian and Ukrainian volunteers to be more active. It is possible that the girl is located in the territory of the Russian Federation and Ukraine (...) in 2007 the police [what police?] version considered that Maddie was kidnapped by a gang of Russian paedophiles, however, it is not confirmed. British police recently made a portrait of the girl with the age-related changes. Experts suggest that now Maddie should look that way.”

Really? Little blonde girls in Russia?!
No more fake news! No more spins. Enough.

«Queenstown

January 4, 2013, 9:06 am

Queenstown Police investigating a reported sighting of missing British girl Madeline McCann say they have identified the young girl seen in Queenstown on New Years Eve and are 'absolutely satisfied' that she is not the missing schoolgirl.

Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron declined to release any details of the identified child stating only that this was not the first occasion that someone had contacted Police remarking on the similarity between the two girls.

ENDS

Media inquiries to:

Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron
Queenstown CIU»

in New Zealand Police Site, plus two more press statements here 'Child not missing British girl' and here 'Media Statement'

One has to ask why didn't S.Y. trust their counterparts in NZ, and what gives them the right to ask for the little girl's DNA?

Update Feb. 12, 2013 GMT

DNA Test Confirms Identity

February 13, 2013, 1:42 pm

Southern Police advise that they have received confirmation from Scotland Yard that a DNA sample provided voluntarily from a girl mistaken as missing British girl Madeleine McCann on New Year's Eve in Queenstown last year does not provide a match for that of the missing girl.

At the time of the sighting Police made thorough inquiries into the sighting and were completely satisfied that the girl was not Madeleine McCann. The DNA test result, as requested by Operation Grange - the British police operation investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance - supports and confirms the original Police investigation into the matter.

The sighting is the second of the same girl, the first being in March 2012. At that time Operation Grange did not exist and therefore there was no follow-up request for a DNA test by British authorities.

Police say that at no stage has the girl been identified by NZ Police. Her family has made it very clear that although they appreciate the concerns raised by the public, the family wish to maintain their own and their daughter's privacy.

Given that there is conclusive evidence that their daughter is not Madeleine McCann and has no connection to Madeleine McCann, it is only right that she and her family are entitled to a level of privacy that most of us enjoy.

The family has asked that their privacy continues to be respected and do not want any contact from media.

ENDS

Released by Detective Inspector Steve McGregor, Southern District Crime Services Manager

in NZ Police site

NZ girl is not Madeleine McCann

British police say a DNA test has confirmed a New Zealand girl who looks strikingly like Madeleine McCann is not the missing youngster.

A spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said the requested sample from the Queenstown girl had been tested.

"Following a DNA submission we are now satisfied the girl identified in New Zealand is not Madeleine McCann," the spokeswoman said.

British police had requested the DNA sample after an alleged reported sighting of Madeleine in New Zealand, almost six years after she went missing during a family holiday in Portugal at the age of three.

There have been several other reported sightings of Madeleine in the Queenstown region in recent years and police said DNA sampling was a conclusive way to establish the identity of the New Zealand girl.

New Zealand police said the DNA requested by Scotland Yard was given voluntarily.

APNZ News Service

They were the ones who took him to court for defamation and asked to suspend the judgement in order to negotiate. On the eve of the trial of Gonçalo Amaral, against whom they filed a complaint, the McCanns asked to negotiate.

by Hernâni Carvalho

Not often the accusers ask to negotiate before a trial, but in this case it was so. TVmais found that, on the eve of Gonçalo Amaral's trial, the McCann couple lawyers proposed a meeting in order to reach an extrajudicial settlement [out of court].

In court, Madeleine McCann's parents demanded from Gonçalo Amaral (see box*) a compensation of 1,2 million euro for alleged defamation. Now it's them who propose an extrajudicial settlement. TVmais also learned the lawyers for the defendants have accepted a meeting to take place within the following 20 days.

As all parties have agreed, the start of the trial, scheduled for the 24th of this month at the 1st Civil Court of Lisbon, “has been suspended because the parties are trying to reach an agreement”, said a judicial source to Lusa News agency. All witnesses have already been notified of the suspension of the hearing.

Now follows a period of six months, after which, if there is no agreement, the hearing will be scheduled and the trial will start.

“Unsuitable”

This trial was supposed to have started twice and was postponed as many times.

In this action Kate and Gerry McCann further claim for the protection of rights, liberties and guarantees and in order to secure the amount they claimed, the McCanns asked for the seizure of Gonçalo Amaral’s assets. To understand how he interprets the step taken by the McCanns, we contacted Gonçalo Amaral, who told TVmais “the eve of every negotiation is the most unsuitable moment to speak”. Until the close of this edition we were unable to talk with the McCann couple.

Defendants

The process is taking place at the 1st circuit of the Civil Court of Lisbon. Madeleine McCann's parents demand 1,2 million euro for alleged defamation. The defendants are Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Judiciary Police and author of the book “Maddie, The Truth of the Lie”, the book publishers Guerra & Paz, Valentim de Carvalho who produced a documentary based on the book, and TVI, who have broadcast it.

Book Unbanned

With a legal proceeding made by the McCann couple, the prohibition of the book and documentary “What Lies beneath the Truth”, which present Gonçalo Amaral’s theory of the involvement of Kate and Gerry McCann on their daughter’s disappearance and hiding her cadaver, was provisionally ordered on the 9th of September of 2009.

However, the Appeals court and the Supreme Court of Justice had favourable decisions benefiting Gonçalo Amaral, as it is explained in the ruling of the Appeals Court of Lisbon ( transit in rem judicatam on 22/11/2010), and in the decision of the Supreme Court ( transit in rem judicatam on 13/09/2011) rejecting the appeal made by the McCanns.

As we published at the time the courts decreed for the book trustee [Isabel Duarte] to return the books to Gonçalo Amaral and to the book publisher. And so it happened (26/04/2012).

Box
The Madeleine McCann case

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from the apartment 5 of the Ocean Club, a tourist resort in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, where she was enjoying a holiday with her parents and twin siblings. At that time Gonçalo Amaral was the coordinator of the Department Criminal Investigation of the Judiciary Police of Portimão. Kate and Gerry McCann remained in Portugal until they were made ​​arguidos [official suspects of a crime], in September of that same year. Then, they left for England with the twins. The process was eventually archived for lack of evidence in July 2008, although the Public Ministry admits the reopening of the case if new data (just like the Law states regarding any closed or archived process) about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann emerges.

in: TVmais, 24.01.2013 (paper version)
En Español aquí» Hasta que se sepa la Verdad

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Gonçalo Amaral, quoted the following, by the Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire (author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed) on January 19th: “If our option is progressive, if we are in favour of life and not death, of equity and not injustice, of correctness and not of fatalism, of the coexistence with the other and not of its denial, we do not have another path but live fully with our choice.”

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Excerpt from 'Querida Júlia' talk show, broadcast by SIC on 23. 01. 2013

Hênani Carvalho (HC) - The McCanns, Madeleine's parents, as you know, sued Gonçalo Amaral for defamation. On the eve of the trial they asked for an extrajudicial meeting with the various defendants. As you know the defendants are the coordinating inspector Gonçalo Amaral, TVI, Valentim de Carvalho and Guerra & Paz. They asked for an extrajudicial meeting. I wrote about that this week on TVmais.

Júlia Pinheiro (JP) - The issue is today on the news-stands.

HC - Exactly. The extrajudicial meetings close to the trials are common, but usually it's the defendant who proposes...

JP - The defendants, right?

HC - ... a solution out of court.

JP - Not the one that accuses [plaintiff], right?

HC - Let's see if this meeting will end in something, if it doesn't, at least it bought someone time, whomever that someone is.

JP - So, what do you think? Is this a delaying tactic, to win time?

Lower Third - 'McCann couple orders the suspension of the trial against Gonçalo Amaral'

HC - So far... the beginning of this trial has been postponed about two or three times already. The fact that all parties have agreed [on the extrajudicial meeting requested by the McCanns] led the judge to agree with the suspension of the trial, so everything will start in six months time with either an extrajudicial solution or with the trial.

JP - Unfortunately, without knowing anything about Maddie McCann. That's the issue that doesn't move forward, it doesn't progress anymore.

HC - About that, there is something that we do know, she disappeared from Praia da Luz, that night, from that apartment.

JP - And she was never seen again. Let's move to...

HC - She was seen various times.

JP - Recently I haven't seen anything about the sightings.

HC - There was another one, just a few days ago she “appeared” [ref. Brazilian Hoax/Daily Express].

JP - Really?

HC - Yes, but I have had enough of that championship [circus].