Post date: Sep 12, 2013 3:55:14 PM
Kate McCann, the mother of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, appears at a Lisbon court after she launched libel action against a Portuguese former police chief, who said in a book that Madeleine's parents covered up the death of their daughter.
LISBON, PORTUGAL (SEPTEMBER 12, 2013) (REUTERS) - The mother of British missing girl Madeleine McCann appeared at a libel hearing in Lisbon on Thursday (September 12) launched against the author of a book that claimed she and her husband had covered up the death of their daughter.
Kate and Gerry McCann launched the one-million libel action against former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral who led the investigation into their daughter's disappearance and declared both of them suspects in the case.Amaral's book was published in 2007 and claimed Madeleine died accidentally because of her parents' negligence.
Amaral's lawyer Vitor Oliveira, who left the courtroom for a lunch break said he could not provide details of the hearing.
"Lawyers should not comment processes in course, it's a rule of the civil code so I will not answer to anything," he said to journalists as his client left without making any comments.
At 1400local (1500gmt), Kate McCann was still inside the courtroom.
Madeleine McCann went missing from her room at the Praia da Luz holiday resort in the Algarve on May 2007 while her parents were dinning with friends at a nearby restaurant, leading to a global search that gripped the world's media.
Despite massive international interest and numerous reported sightings from Belgium and Spain toMorocco, France and Malta, and investigations stretching as far away as Australia, the little girl's fate remains a mystery.
Her parents were named as official suspects by Portuguese police four months after Madeleine's disappearance but in 2008 they were cleared and Portugal's public prosecutor later dropped the case, citing lack of evidence.
London police launched a review of the case in 2011 after the couple wrote to British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron saying not enough was being done to find their daughter.
Kate McCann said if the libel case was successful, the money she would get from it would be used to continue the search for her daughter.