Re: Annulment request REJECTED by Supreme Court

Châtelaine Tue 21 Mar 2017, 7:40 pm

She lost.
ECHR are not even going to consider this ...

Mimi Tue 21 Mar 2017, 7:50 pm

How is Tracey going to spin this news I wonder.

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 7:51 pm

http://portugalresident.com/mccann%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cfrivolity%E2%80%9D-complaint-rejected-gon%C3%A7alo-amaral%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98libel-win%E2%80%99-confirmed-for-3rd-time

McCann’s “frivolity” complaint rejected. Gonçalo Amaral’s ‘libel win’ confirmed for 3rd time

This may be the end of the line for the long-running civil case taken out by the parents of Madeleine McCann to ‘silence’ their bête-noir, former PJ coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.

After all the hullaballoo and recriminations filling UK tabloids, Supreme court judge Dr Jorge Manuel Roque Nogueira has rejected the complaint lodged by Kate and Gerry McCann over what they considered a frivolous decision by fellow judges to uphold Gonçalo Amaral’s right to freedom of expression, sanctioning the intrinsic legality of his damning thesis ‘Maddie: the Truth of the Lie’.

Roque Nogueira’s decision, taken earlier today and published in PDF format online, means that Amaral has won the case for the third and possibly final time.

There is no higher court in Portugal to which the McCanns can take this fight - and the grounds for appeal to the European Court of Human Rights are “highly dubious”, said a source, particularly as Supreme Court judges referred to tenets set out by the ECHR in their 75-page deliberation.

For Amaral who has remained silent through this last tense stand-off over the Supreme Court ruling in January, the decision today means that finally his assets and property should be ‘unfrozen’, allowing him to return to the full control of his life.

As blogwriter Joana Morais has commented, Roque Nogueira’s decision came “sooner than we expected” and was “no doubt due to the weaknesses of the reasoning presented in the request for annulment of the Supreme Court’s ruling”.

For now, there has been no reaction from either the McCanns in UK, or their Portuguese legal team over here.

UK tabloids appear not yet to have the news.

natasha.donn@algarveresident.com

What's_up_doc? Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:00 pm

Fortune favours the brave and they don't come any braver than Goncalo Amaral! A great day for justice. Very Happy

bluebell Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:04 pm

Nothing mentioned on the official FindMadeleine site yet, of course. Still got the 'Who Are These People' and 'Donate Now' links up scratch

I am interested to read what the latest update will be there as I'm not on Twitter - but maybe noone goes to the Official site nowadays anyway = who on earth wants a buy now wrist band, luggage labels, pah !!

I am so, so, pleased for GA at this news today. I'd love to see him on tv celebrating his long awaited, well deserved success. I have never doubted him.
Can I say s*d the McCanns at last. Smile

**Admin** Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:10 pm

@bluebell, yes, he is free to talk at a last. Can't wait! cheers

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:22 pm

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:26 pm

**Admin** Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:30 pm

Missed these earlier...

Mike Spudgun‏ @spudgun01 · 21h21 hours ag0

That No1 Madeleine #McCann "suspect" on #crimewatch is the very same person the McCanns spent £millions keeping out of the news for 6 years.

Mike Spudgun‏ @spudgun01 · 21h21 hours ago

Biggest mystery in the #McCann case is NOT what happened to Madeleine; but why the WORLD is being indoctrinated to believe she was abducted.

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:37 pm

Admin wrote:Missed these earlier...

Mike Spudgun‏ @spudgun01 · 21h21 hours ag0

That No1 Madeleine #McCann "suspect" on #crimewatch is the very same person the McCanns spent £millions keeping out of the news for 6 years.

Mike Spudgun‏ @spudgun01 · 21h21 hours ago

Biggest mystery in the #McCann case is NOT what happened to Madeleine; but why the WORLD is being indoctrinated to believe she was abducted.

Don't mention that to Tony Bennett. His head will pop off.

Speaking of him, it's funny how he always does a disappearing act when major breaking news (not in the McCann's favour) breaks.

Any CMoMM members over the road ever seen Tony and Verdi in the same room... Very Happy

Bampots Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:45 pm

Châtelaine wrote:She lost.
ECHR are not even going to consider this ...

I do hope you are correct Châtelaine....but I suspect they will try!

womandotcom Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:46 pm

espeland wrote:
canada12 wrote:Oh dear! Now what! Panic in the ranks indeed!
What if Kate and Gerry refuse to pay?

They could be sued in the UK High Court. They may even be in "Can't Pay, We'll take it Away" (a British TV show)!

Not much makes me laugh out loud these days but that did, espeland! Wonderful news, and I shall even raise a glass or three to Dr Amaral tonight cheers

What's_up_doc? Tue 21 Mar 2017, 8:49 pm

I don't think the ECHR can consider a case rejected by a Supreme Court can they? Does anyone know what the McCanns will have to pay yet?

dogs don't lie Tue 21 Mar 2017, 9:52 pm

In through the door and booted straight back out!

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 10:49 pm

Nothing in the British MSM as yet Mad

Jerry Lawton often chips in with a piece released at Midnight.

We'll see. But I reckon it will be in the news tomorrow though.

TheTruthWillOut Tue 21 Mar 2017, 11:05 pm

Andrew wrote:Nothing in the British MSM as yet

Jerry Lawton often chips in with a piece released at Midnight.

We'll see. But I reckon it will be in the news tomorrow though.

Amazing isn't it. The media were quick to run the story of them appealing and they have had enough time today to even make the papers and of course online is instant if they want.

Andrew Tue 21 Mar 2017, 11:12 pm

They were fairly quick off the mark when they lost last time as well (if memory serves).

This one's a bit more explosive though so I'm sure they're all working through the night on it...

And it'll be dished up in time for breakfast cheers

TheTruthWillOut Tue 21 Mar 2017, 11:25 pm

Andrew wrote:They were fairly quick off the mark when they lost last time as well (if memory serves).

This one's a bit more explosive though so I'm sure they're all working through the night on it...

And it'll be dished up in time for breakfast

I'm keeping a look out for the BBC at midnight!

espeland Tue 21 Mar 2017, 11:52 pm

Andrew wrote:Nothing in the British MSM as yet

Jerry Lawton often chips in with a piece released at Midnight.

We'll see. But I reckon it will be in the news tomorrow though.

It's not likely to be in the MSM tomorrow - most papers like Maddie news to be on the front page and there are already two big stories that fit the bill. I do, however, expect the McCanns to be really big news over the next few weeks.

chilli Wed 22 Mar 2017, 12:00 am

Bampots wrote:
Châtelaine wrote:She lost.
ECHR are not even going to consider this ...

I do hope you are correct Châtelaine....but I suspect they will try!

I have been told that you cannot even apply to the ECtHR unless you register that as an intention at the very first court in your home country ie the lowest court that considers your case. Even if you do that, you still have a very low chance of your case being heard by the ECt HR as only a very small proportion of cases raised across Europe are selected for hearing and there are thousands of applicants.

Mo Wed 22 Mar 2017, 2:47 am

Brilliant

http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/03/22/12/26/kate-gerry-mccann-fail-to-stop-court-ruling-not-innocent-in-madeleine-disappearance#zFPH67tFjpSJCq4t.99

Andrew Wed 22 Mar 2017, 6:44 am

McCanns fail to stop 'not innocent' ruling in Madeleine's disappearance

By Mark Saunokonoko

Kate and Gerry McCann were dealt a damaging blow today after a Supreme Court rejected a formal complaint against a ruling which stated they were not innocent in the disappearance of Madeleine.

The McCanns have been engaged in a protracted and expensive eight-year legal battle, using money from the Find Madeleine Fund, to silence a detective who authored a book that claimed they faked their daughter's abduction and covered up her death.

Last month, Portugal's Supreme Court upheld a 2016 ruling that Goncalo Amaral's 2008 book 'The Truth of the Lie' was indeed exercising his legal right to freedom of expression.

In February's ruling the judges also declared the lifting of Kate and Gerry's 'arguidos' status (a kind of formal suspect), and the 2008 archiving of the criminal investigation into Maddie's disappearance, did not mean they were innocent.

Lawyers for the McCanns, who have steadfastly claimed Maddie was abducted, described the Supreme Court's assertion as "erroneous" and "frivolous". They immediately laid the formal complaint.

Today, Supreme Court judge Dr Jorge Manuel Roque Nogueira threw that complaint out.

The McCanns were made 'arguidos' in the days following a cadaver and blood dog search that saw alerts made inside the family's holiday apartment and also a rental car Kate and Gerry hired 25 days after Maddie vanished.

The cadaver dog, trained to detect the odour of dead bodies, also registered hits on Maddie's favourite cuddly toy, Cuddle Cat, and two items of Kate's clothing.

Amaral was controversially removed from the investigation in October 2007, after he was deemed to have been critical of British police in an interview with a Portuguese newspaper.

The Portuguese detective later wrote a book based on the Madeleine case, and released it three days after the case was officially shelved, which was also when 'arguidos' status was lifted from the McCanns.

Amaral's book theorised Maddie had died in apartment 5A, and her body had been disposed of by Kate and Gerry.

In 2009, the McCanns launched a class action suit against Amaral and won an injunction against his book.

Those legal maneuverings resulted in the freezing of Amaral's assets, and also the immediate seizure of a bounty of his books.

However, in October, 2010, that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in Lisbon, which ruled the injunction had violated Amaral's freedom of expression.

That judgement set the wheels in motion for a showdown that threatened to financially ruin the ex-police chief.

In April 2015 Amaral was ordered to pay $704,000 plus interest in damages.

But with the help of almost $100,000 in donations from his supporters, Amaral challenged the libel ruling and won, at the same time successfully overturning the ban on his book.

The McCanns quickly lodged an appeal with Portugal's Supreme Court, which was rejected this year in February.

The 76-page ruling by the Supreme Court stated that no one should infer guilt or innocence on the McCanns based on their judgement.

"It should not be said that the appellants [McCanns] were cleared via the ruling announcing the archiving of the criminal case," according to public court documents.

"In truth, that ruling was not made in virtue of Portugal's Public Prosecution Service having acquired the conviction that the appellants hadn't committed a crime.

"The archiving of the case was determined by the fact that public prosecutors hadn't managed to obtain sufficient evidence of the practice of crimes by the appellants."

Amaral has reportedly authored a second, yet-to-published, book about Madeleine's disappearance.

The McCanns are believed to have one final avenue to challenge today's decision – by lodging an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.

Andrew Wed 22 Mar 2017, 6:48 am

A very good article indeed, Mo.

Off for a morning run. And when I get back I better be reading something similar served up by the British MSM.

Bampots Wed 22 Mar 2017, 7:59 am

Can there be any doubt that these papers are in cahoots or have their hands tied?

Poe Wed 22 Mar 2017, 8:40 am

Châtelaine wrote:She lost.
ECHR are not even going to consider this ...

Link: http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/press/115/PortRes_17_01_2016.htm

The ECHR ruled on a similar case, for a Portugues journalist, back in January this year. They ruled that there was:

“no reasonable relationship of proportionality between the restriction of freedom of expression of the complainant and the objective pursued of protecting the good name of Noronha do Nascimento”.

If the McCanns try to take this to the ECHR, they will be asking the court to reverse a ruling they've made on this, a similar case. Of course they could always tell the ECHR that their previous judgement was frivolous Very Happy

Excellent news for Mr Amaral cheers

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