Appeal to the Supreme Court

An appeal to the Supreme Court has been filed by the lawyer on behalf of the McCanns. 

PJGA will assume the legal costs for Gonçalo Amaral, thanks to your contributions.

We remain confident, as always, that Justice will be served and Freedom of Speech, of Opinion and of Information will prevail.

Statement

Projecto Justiça Gonçalo Amaral (PJGA) was set up by a group of his friends on 1 November, 2009, in response to the decision by Gerry & Kate McCann to take legal action against Gonçalo Amaral and others.

The McCanns sought not only to suspend sales of the book “Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira”, but to demand the sum of €1,2 million from Dr. Amaral.

A second injunction succeeded in freezing Dr. Amaral's assets and income, denying him the opportunity to defend himself in court.

On 20 November 2009, a defence fund was launched. Its purpose was to help enable Dr. Amaral to fight the legal action that was brought against him by the McCanns.

The fund has remained at all times independent of Dr Amaral. It is beyond reach of any compensation claim. Any funds remaining after all legal expenses are met are to be donated to a Portuguese children's charity.

In April 2015, as the legal action dragged on and costs were becoming difficult to handle, an approach was made to the friends who created PJGA, suggesting that a GoFundMe page be launched to generate additional funds.

PJGA cooperated with Leanne Baulch, who fronted this part of the appeal, to bring this to being on 29 April 2015.

Let us be clear: all donations made to the GoFundMe page, minus the commission deducted automatically by GoFundMe, were paid directly into the one bank account that has been held by friends of Dr Amaral since PJGA was created.

Leanne, having successfully promoted the GoFundMe page, handed over its control to the group of friends who coordinate PJGA, for personal reasons that are unrelated to the legal action. We are hugely grateful for her initiative.

On 21 October 2015, when it was considered that sufficient funds had been raised, it was decided the GoFundMe page would be closed on 28 October 2015.

The fund has been able to support Dr Amaral in his successful appeal against the McCanns' actions and at this moment contains adequate funds for a sound legal defence should the case be brought to Supreme Court. PJGA will continue to support Dr Amaral's legal costs should this happen. The PJGA legal defence fund remains open.

For the purpose of clarity, the suggestions of impropriety by anyone connected with the defence fund are false.

The group of friends and Mr Amaral himself remain eternally grateful for your support in allowing a man to defend himself in court and for justice to prevail.

We will endeavour to keep you informed as and when we receive further information regarding the re-appeal.

GoFundMe Page & Donations

Dear friends,

Just a short note to clarify that donations that have been received via the GoFundMe page which was set up by Leanne Baulch have been received directly - and continue to be received directly - into the BPI bank account that Projecto Justiça Gonçalo Amaral has used since 2009 to channel support towards Mr Amaral's defence costs.

Please allow us to use this opportunity to, once again, thank you for your support, which has been received by Gonçalo Amaral in many wonderful ways, from all over the world.

We will update you on the appeal proceedings as soon as there are developments.

Thank you, as ever.

PayPal account restored

Projecto Justiça Gonçalo Amaral is pleased to inform that the Paypal account is again in operation.

We apologise for the inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding and your continued support.

Information concerning the Defence Fund for Gonçalo Amaral

The PayPal account is temporarily suspended due to a delay in the verification of that account. We await a credit card number that is necessary in order to validate the PayPal account.

We hope to have this situation resolved within the next few days.

In the meantime, you can donate by bank wire transfer, using the following bank details:

BPI – Banco Português de Investimento, Sete Rios branch, in Lisbon

IBAN: PT 50 0010 0000 438 0385 000 1 62
Swift: BB PI PT PL

If you need any additional information, please be so kind as to contact Project Justice Gonçalo Amaral per email.

We thank you for your continued support.

Press Release – Defence Fund

For Immediate Release

The movement ‘Citizens in Defence of Rights and Freedoms – Project Justice Gonçalo Amaral’ formally announces the creation of a defence fund by means of a solidarity account to support citizen Gonçalo Amaral, who has been deprived of his civil right to free expression.

Freedom of expression is an inalienable constitutional right, for which the Portuguese people have fought hard, and that cannot be placed at stake, namely when it is exercised with responsibility and with civility.

Citizen Gonçalo Amaral presently finds himself in the front line of a struggle for freedom of expression. An unequal struggle, in which the parties have access to disparate financial resources – citizen Gonçalo Amaral is forced to exhaust all and any personal resources that he may possess, and which are manifestly insufficient to meet the expenses that are inherent to his defence.

His opponents, who are well aware of this limitation, and who are financed by third parties to place considerable resources at their disposal, risk little or nothing, and gamble everything to silence the former Judiciary Police coordinator.

Gonçalo Amaral desires nothing more than to see this matter duly clarified in a court of law, which is the only place where the material truth of facts can, and should, be established. And we, Portuguese citizens, will do anything to see that happen.

Both parties must have equal access to Justice, and to adequate legal representation. In this particular case, we see a need to create a legal defence fund, in order to ensure that citizen Gonçalo Amaral is given access to said equality.

Therefore, the citizens who wish to show their solidarity with this cause, may contribute with their support through a bank account at BPI – Banco Português de Investimento, Sete Rios branch, in Lisbon, with NIB: 0010 0000 438 0385 000 1 62; IBAN: PT 50 0010 0000 438 0385 000 1 62; Swift: BB PI PT PL.

The ‘Project Justice Gonçalo Amaral’ blog – www.pjga.blogspot.com – offers the possibility to donate using the PayPal system.

This action is subject to principles of full transparency and seriousness.

For equal Justice for all, in respect of civil rights and duties of Portuguese and European citizens.

For Truth and for Freedom.



For further information please contact Mr. Luís Arriaga on +351 92 501 19 69, or use the email projectojustica@gmail.com