by Hernâni Carvalho
Gonçalo Amaral’s head against the absolution of the other inspectors – such was the proposal that was made by Leonor’s lawyer to one of the lawyers of the PJ inspectors. The information hit the newsroom at tvmais like a bombshell. “I confirm it”, tvmais was told by Carlos Anjos, the president of ASFIC, the union for the PJ’s Criminal Investigation workers. “Our colleagues’ lawyer (Pragal Colaço) has informed us about said proposal that was made by Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer (Marcos Aragão). Gonçalo Amaral’s head. Concerning the others, one would find a way to clear them.”If we in the newsroom found this strange, any doubts were dismissed when we contacted Marcos Aragão himself. “Yes, indeed I spoke with Dr Pragal Colaço and I confirm that I proposed to help him in the defense of the other inspectors if they stated that they acted under Gonçalo Amaral’s indication. A reduction of the sentence would be achieved for them”, the lawyer told our magazine. Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer confirmed to us that he is ready to defend the inspectors who stand accused of torturing his client if in exchange an unequivocal condemnation against the PJ’s coordinating inspector, Gonçalo Amaral, was obtained.
Marcos Aragão told tvmais that he is in possession of an email that was written by Paulo Cristóvão to another PJ inspector where he states that he was given carte blanche by Gonçalo Amaral to beat up Leonor Cipriano. We contacted Paulo Cristóvão. The former PJ inspector told us, laconically, that the affirmation “doesn’t even deserve a comment. We shall see what happens in the appropriate location, which is a court hearing”.
Concerning the deal, António Cabrita, Gonçalo Amaral’s lawyer, told us: “I don’t know those affirmations. Dr Gonçalo Amaral trusts the Portuguese justice that he served for 27 years. Those deals have no validity whatsoever in the Portuguese penal system. Here, the court only appreciates facts, not deals”.
“An inspector sits on the bench, accused of forgery, but it was the chief of the prison guards who went to court to state that the director of the prison of Odemira (Ana Maria Calado) ordered him to change a document, which he refused.” Carlos Anjos from ASFIC/PJ finds this strange. “I have yet to understand what stands behind all this. Dr Marcos Aragão is more committed to ruining the credibility of Gonçalo Amaral and the PJ in the McCanns case than concerned about Leonor Cipriano’s pain”, he said.
The truth is that contradictions and certificates is what has been mostly seen at the Court in Faro. During the sessions of the trial of the five PJ inspectors who stand accused of torturing Leonor Cipriano, requests follow upon requests for certificates to file new complaints. Both from the accusation and from the defense. Among accusations and counter-accusations, the collective of judges which is led by Henrique Pavão (three judges, four jurors) has already complained about the fact that bureaucratic issues are delaying the process.What is known for certain is that on the 13th of October [2004], Leonor confessed to murdering her daughter Joana. And it is known that she did so in the presence of her lawyer, Célia Costa, who confirms that she didn’t see anyone assaulting Leonor. The process that was opened by the Public Ministry (PM) over alleged aggressions against Leonor Cipriano refers the 15th of October. But the PM failed to determine who committed the aggressions. The PJ inspectors stand accused of having created conditions for the actions to be carried out. In those days, Leonor Cipriano was preventively detained in Odemira prison and the PJ was searching for her daughter Joana or what was left of her. Two days after she confessed to killing her daughter Leonor, in the presence of her lawyer, Leonor Cipriano returned to the prison in Odemira with hematomas to her face. At that time, she stated that she had fallen and the guards wrote a report. Now, she says that she was assaulted with fists and kicks and with a cardboard tube.
Why did Leonor dismiss Grade?
“I don’t know.” Leonor Cipriano’s former lawyer told us that he heard about his dismissal “from a journalist who asked me if I had been set apart. As I knew nothing about it, I denied it. It was only later that I read an email from my colleague Marcos Aragão. That was how I found out that I had been dismissed from the defense of Mrs Leonor because she signed a document that revoked my power of attorney and hired another lawyer. I know through my colleague that she stated she was not happy with me because I didn’t attack Dr Gonçalo Amaral frontally and that she felt better supported while being defended by my colleague”.Leonor’s contradictions
Leonor sometimes remembers and sometimes forgets. First, she said that she had seen who assaulted her, but later she denied it. First, she said that there was a blue plastic bag over her head but soon she declared it was “green or blue”. During the inquiry, she said that she had been “aggressed more than once”, but now, during the trial, she stated it happened only once. She said she knew the time (around 8 p.m.) because she had looked at the clock in the room where she had been beaten. During the trial, she described the room without said clock. There were several contradictions from Leonor, but one of her sentences stuck to everyone’s memory. “I don’t remember having confessed”, she told the court.
source: Tvmais, 05.11.2008, paper edition
What is actually meant by "if he was given Goncalo's head"?
ReplySurely not what I think it means that they want him killed?
Dr. Gozalo Amaral, the Man Who Knew too Much. What a shame of certain people in Justice, the are the cancer in the System!
ReplyGonzalo, we stand by you.
How csn the Portuguese expect not to be mocked by Britain if they are the first to mock themselves?
ReplyTextusa
Clear, this is not anymore a case of Leonor Cipriano been tortured or Joana alive or dead, this is a case of "leting down" Goncalo Amaral with support of "Ordem dos Advogados" and " Ministerio Publico". This is a case of saving the Mccann's and helping them definnetly, runaway from justice. They know that Goncalo Amaral know's exactly what happen to Maddie and he dont want to close his mouth. He his the only one which olds some power and wants justice for Madeleine. I hope all the parents all over the world, which love their childs, and specially the Portuguese and the British will make so many noise in foruns and blogs to highlight the corruption surrounding this case and help Amaral finding justice for Maddie. This is not a normal case of disapearence of a child. There is many other crimes behind and no any civilizade and democratic country can accept to be forgived without a exemplar punnishement. A Uge team including all Tapas 9, C. Mitchel. M3, Aragao and Marinho Pinto should be in court in 3 countrys (Portugal, UK, Spain ) or peraphs in a international european court. They play with justice, with people which honestly give monney to Madeleine Found( for her search and not to persecute the police encharged of the investigation). They play with all responsable parents which work very hard and forgot their holidays on behalf of their childs. Justice for Madeleine!!!
ReplyPoor little dear Leonor, is she showing the first signs of Alzheimer, maybe?
ReplyShe reminds me of Aileen Wuornos, the prostitute and murderess depicted in the film " Monster". She also lied through her teeth in court to save her sorry ass.
I can't believe what I've just heard from the mouth of Mr. Barra da Costa(former P.J. criminologist),speaking in TVI- Você na TV. He insinuated that Leonor Cipriano i a simpleton, an "hillbilly" from behind the mountains, whoses horizons don´t go far from the her village, and therefore would never have the imagination to come up with such an elaborate story!?!!! WHat?!!!
ReplyShe may be poor and disadvantaged, uneducated, but that doesn't necessarely mean she is incapable of malice or that she is not cunningly smart, she proved otherwise when she came up with all those elaborated stories of how Joana was abducted, then sold, and so on.
Does he not even consider the possibility that Leonor might be a puppet in the hands of one/some sinister puppeteers?
Mr. Barra da Costa, criminologist and ex-PJ, spoke in TVI's Você na TV, and hinted that Leonor Cipriano is a simpleton, a "hillbilly", from behind the mountains, whose hotizons don´t go beyond her own village, and so implying she could'nt have the imagination to come up with an elaborate and detailed story like the one of the beating!? What does he mean by this, that he does not believe her? He always manages to talk a lot and say nothing, at least nothing that can make one understand where he stands on things. At least I really have a hard time decifrating him and his views.
ReplyLeonor may be poor,disadvantaged and uneducated, but that does'nt necesserally mean she is deprived of that form of intelligence we in Portugal call "esperteza saloia" or being a " chico-esperto", being cunningly smart in a malicious way.
Does he not even consider that she can be a puppet in the hands of sinister puppeteers?
On the other hand he also said, and this I agree with, that an educated cop is the worse thing, a danger, because he asks questions, raises doubts, stirs muddy waters, and this cannot be, it's a nuisance for some shadowy powers. This is preciselly what Mr. G. Amaral is,or was, an educated, commited investigator. He was nbot prepared to play the "dum cop" act, look the other way and whistle into the air, he refused to sitt, roll over, play dead, bark or beg, at the masters voice.