Madeleine McCann’s parents have lost the latest stage of their legal battle over comments by a retired Portuguese detective who claimed they were involved in her disappearance.
Lawyers for Kate and Gerry McCann argued that the Portuguese authorities had violated their right to respect for private and family life in the way the courts dealt with their defamation claims against Goncalo Amaral.
He claimed in a book, a TV documentary and a newspaper interview that the McCanns were involved in the disappearance of his daughter Madeleine.
In a ruling published on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights found that the couple’s reputation had been damaged by the fact that they had been made official suspects in the case for a short time, rather than by Mr Amaral’s comments.
The ECtHR said: “The Court considered that, even assuming that the reputation of the claimants had been damaged, this was not because of the argument made by the author of the book, but as a result of the suspicions expressed against them, which had caused them to be investigated in the course of the criminal investigation (the prosecution decided not to take further measures in July 2008) and had generated intense media attention and much controversy.
“Thus, the information had been made public in some detail even before the investigative file was made available to the media and the book in question was published.
“Consequently, the national authorities had not breached their positive obligation to protect the applicants’ right to respect for their private lives.”
The plaintiffs’ complaint about their “right to be presumed innocent” was also dismissed because Mr. Amaral’s book was published three days after the decision not to take any action against them.
The ECtHR also found that the claims did not appear to have affected the McCanns’ “social relationships” or their campaign to find their daughter.
He said: “While the Court understood that the publication of the book had undeniably caused anger, distress and distress to the applicants, it did not appear that the book, or the dissemination of the documentary, had had a serious impact on the social relations of the applicants. or in their legitimate and ongoing attempts to find their daughter.”
The court also said the McCanns’ right to respect for their private and family life had to be balanced against Mr. yellow
The McCanns now have three months to appeal the decision.
Her three-year-old daughter went missing during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
Earlier this year, German investigators found new evidence against the main suspect in her disappearance, a prosecutor revealed in an interview with Portuguese television.
Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner was declared a suspect in the case by Portuguese officials in April as he was approaching a 15-year legal term, and has been investigated by German officials for two years.
In May, the McCanns said it was essential to uncover the truth as they marked the 15th anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.
