Friday, October 23, 2015

Goncalo Amaral Faith Beyond Reason?

Goncalo Amaral maintains he still has faith in the Portuguese justice system. Unless his words are an exercise in rhetoric for the benefit of said system, which they may well be, I find it quite a bizarre thing to come out with given the justice he has received so far.

Anything less than a complete overturn of the award against him, can hardly be called justice.

Can it?




Amaral supporters call time as appeal fund approaches €70,000
Portugal Press
October 22, 2015

For reasons that are remaining very quiet, the friends and supporters of former “Maddie cop” Gonçalo Amaral have called time on the gofundme online appeal set up to fund his legal expenses as he challenges the court decision ordering him to pay the parents of Madeleine McCann over €500,000 in damages.

The Legal Defence for Gonçalo Amaral page will be closing on Wednesday, October 28.

At time of writing, it had already raised over €69,860 and donations were still coming in.

The latest, as of lunchtime today (Thursday), was for €100.

Over the last five months, 2,757 people have responded to the gofundme campaign, set up by a young single mother from Birmingham who was only 14 when Madeleine went missing.

Leanne Baulch, 22, explained to us back in May that she had never imagined the response her initiative received, but she felt compelled to do it as she was “desperate to help” a man she felt was being “persecuted”.

But as the money flowed in, so too did the unpleasantness, including slurs in the British press that the fund was powered by “sick online trolls”.

With Ms Baulch considering her position as a single parent of a toddler, she removed herself from the process altogether a few months ago.

The fund then transferred into the hands of the friends of the former PJ detective whose book, “A Verdade da Mentira”, landed him in the hot seat of litigation - with all his assets, including bank accounts “frozen” - in 2008.

Unpleasantness appears nonetheless to have continued, with internet manipulation of the appeal’s online code so that a few weeks ago, it virtually disappeared from sight (see http://portugalresident.com/online-intrigue-as-mccanns-close-twitter-pag...).

Now those in charge of the fund have decided it should close.

Using the headline “Sufficient” - which translated into Portuguese also stands for “Enough” - they have said: “We believe that it is time to close the gofundme page, as the bank account currently stands at an amount that seems largely sufficient to face eventual future expenses”.

A source has confirmed to the Resident that other forms of fundraising remain open, while Amaral’s fundraisers are aware that whatever the result of the latest appeal being considered by Lisbon’s Appellate Court, litigation will continue.

“If Amaral is successful, for example, we remain fairly certain that the McCann’s would appeal that decision. And so it continues. The next step would be the Supreme Court and then after that the Constitutional Court”.

And should Amaral lose the fight which he feels centres on his right to freedom of expression then a new online appeal will be needed to fund a case against Portuguese justice in the European Court of Human Rights.

Thus, for now, it is a case of “serenely awaiting” the next judicial decision, while Amaral’s supporters are no less determined to keep funding avenues open.

Sending out the latest message to subscribers, the group of friends writing collectively said: “May we use this moment to wholeheartedly thank those who have expressed their support for Gonçalo Amaral’s right to an appropriate defence. Whether you have contributed financially or by sending a support message, you have made an impact. You have made a difference”.

As we wrote this article, yet another donation was received as the six-day countdown to closure begins.

Meantime, fund organisers continue to confirm that they will donate any money left unused on legal expenses to a Portuguese children’s charity. Source

natasha.donn@algarveresident.com

That said, there appears to be a rush of donations before the fund closes, some quite considerable.


23 comments:

Anonymous said...


https://twitter.com/nikki_plummer/status/657430001982291968

Anonymous said...

Yes the Portuguese press have been well, how the press should be!

The latest news regarding the President overriding the peoples choice in the election is not sending good vibes regarding the general atmosphere of openness, democracy and citizens rights in Portugal.

Amanda S

Himself said...

Thanks for the heads up Amanda. In truth I wouldn't have known, I have been preoccupied within the confines of my own personal bubble of late.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/president-of-portugal-refuses-to-appoint-left-wing-government/

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/portugal-left-vows-to-topple-government-with-no-confidence-vote-1.2404969

But back to Amaral, I have seen nothing to indicate that he won't get shafted as he has been on occasions previous.

What's the best he can hope for, a reduction by half? If that's the case, he's still screwed. Eu300,000 is not exactly loose change.

Much depends I suppose on the political forces in play. If the appeals court is subject to the same political influence as Maria Emília de Melo e Castro so obviously was, then I don't hold out much hope of a just decision from said appeals court.

It's not just our own little State of Denmark that is in decay is it?

Anonymous said...


"It's not just our own little State of Denmark that is in decay is it?"

No. Citizens and their rights in much of the western world are being well and truly shafted in every respect, especially fairness and justice!
The overbearing establishment culture doesn't bode well for Amaral I am sad to say. Everything has been turned on it's head. Immorality is moral, lies are truth, destruction and killing is a humanitarian imperative and the strong arm types become those in need of protection and support and the weak vilified and crushed.

Time for me to have some real, genuine time out with the animals...

guerra said...

Hello Himself,

I know this is off topic, but I must respond to Amanda's declaration that the president of the Portuguese republic overrode the people's choice in the election. I'm a Portuguese Canadian with no political affiliation; if you were to ask me 8 years ago what are the names of the parliamentary political parties in Portugal I couldn't respond because I had no clue. However, after following Portuguese politics very closely for the last 5 years, watching the parliamentary debates; I am now quite familiar with the Portuguese political system.

The ruling coalition party (PaF) led by Mr. Passos Coelho won the election, although he lost his majority. On Oct 4 the leader of the opposition party(PS) Mr. Antonio Costa, recognised this fact and took full responsibility for his party's defeat. It was a shock to the PS party since they fully expected that the Portuguese public would not reelect Mr. Coelho who had had to make some very unpopular but necessary decisions in order to spare the country from having to request a second bailout. There were immediate calls for Mr. Costa's dismissal and he soon realised that the only way he could save his political skin was to form an alliance with the parties from the far left(BE, PCP) and become prime minister, the same far left which during the election campaign spent more time attacking Mr. Costa's party than the ruling coalition.

Mr.Costa soon began courting the far left parties which, unlike his PS party, don't want to remain in the EU, and don't want to be a part of Nato. Mr. Costa started justifying his actions by stating that the majority of people voted against Mr.Coelho's "political austerity" even though the platform on which Mr. Costa ran contains austerity measures. The Portuguese media which has over the last 4 years predominantly supported the views of the parties from the left echoed Mr. Costa's sentiment, disregarding the fact that many who had voted PS wouldn't have done so if they had known that Mr. Costa intended to form an alliance with the far left.

The far left parties which do nothing more than critique and protest and promote economic fantasies don't want to rule; they don't want the responsibility; what they are proposing to Mr. Costa is that they won't overturn his government in return for some concessions on his part. The concessions they are seeking involve some of the principal issues of the PS platform which if granted could put a halt to Portugal's fragile growing economy and risk foreign intervention once again.

The President of the Portuguese Republic, Mr. Cavaco Silva did what other presidents have done before him, nominate the leader of the party that won the election to be prime minister, which in 2015 is Mr. Passos Coelho. It would be ridiculous for the president to nominate Mr.Antonio Costa as prime minister who is still negotiating with the far left and therefore was not able to present Mr.Cavaco Silva with the any details of an agreement.

The likely outcome of all this is that the ruling coalition party will be brought down when it presents its budget and that Mr. Antonio Costa will become prime minister. In a years time Portugal will once again be in dire straits and an election will be called.

Anonymous said...

The British very right wing Telegraph is my source not speaking Portuguese.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11949701/AEP-Eurozone-crosses-Rubicon-as-Portugals-anti-euro-Left-banned-from-power.html

Thank you for that different perspective Guerra.

Amanda S

Anonymous said...

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is strongly opposed to the European Constitution and the Economic and Monetary Union.

Himself said...

Anonymous 24 October 2015 at 13:40

I have just penned a mighty reply which has just buggered orf into the cyberhole, please consider this as same response.

Himself said...

Guerra

Thank you for your input.

Anonymous said...

http://portugalresident.com/amaral-supporters-plough-last-minute-money-into-legal-fund-as-uk-focuses-on-alleged-maddie-fraud

Himself said...

And then we'll have to wait and see Maren. Just for a change.

The other thing I stayed well away from, it reeked of merde de taureau.

Or should I say gelul?

Regards my lovely.

Anonymous said...

Goedendag H

Voor de verandering zullen we moeten afwachten.

Wat dat andere ding betreft, het is inderdaad gelul. Goed gezegd.

Hartelijke groeten,

Maren


Anonymous said...

http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/_gafund2500.htm

Anonymous said...

http://portugalresident.com/maddie-hunt-%E2%80%9Cdrastically%E2%80%9D-scaled-back-%E2%80%9C%C2%A310-million-spent-and-nothing-achieved%E2%80%9D-says-sky-news

Sudheer Yadav said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Sudheer Yadav

Don't spam this blog you cunt.

M

Himself said...

LOL You're a pearl Maren.

Anonymous said...

Hell hath no fury like a spammer scorned.

Anonymous said...

https://twitter.com/PercyVarco/status/660206134163144704

Anonymous said...

http://portugalresident.com/former-maddie-cop-blasts-%E2%80%9Cstrategic-campaign%E2%80%9D-underway-to-pressure-portuguese-judiciary

Himself said...

I left a comment, will they publish it?

Perhaps Dr Amaral's appeal court justices would care to read the following before they make any decisions. If they haven't already done so that is.

A Nightwear Job by Dr Martin Roberts
http://onlyinamericablogging.b...

The singularly most important and damning article penned by the inimitable Dr Roberts. And he has penned a few in the past.

It is THE definitive article on the subject, once and for all putting paid to the myth that Madeleine was abducted.

Anonymous said...

They published it.

Anonymous said...

19 Apr 2016

Translation of the Conclusions of the Appellate Court's Decision

http://pjga.blogspot.nl/2016/04/translation-of-conclusions-of-appellate.html

4. From the above mentioned, it is agreed, in accordance with both appeals, to revoke the appealed decision and, considering the action against them to be unfounded, to acquit the appealing plaintiffs of the totality of the requests. The costs, in both instances [courts] are to be paid by the appealed subjects [Kate and Gerry McCann].