The Silent Voice
by Anna Raccoon
Reproduced with kind permission
Today, the Righteous Brothers will march on the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, banners proudly held aloft, ready to do battle in the endless contest between the clash of two fundamental rights: the right to freedom of expression and the right to reputation. They will demand that the Lisbon court treat the opposing arguments as being mutually exclusive and declare an outright victor.
The Portuguese court is due to begin the libel trial of a former senior detective who published a book alleging that Madeleine McCann died inside her parents’ apartment. Kate and Gerry McCann launched the legal action against Goncalo Amaral after he accused them of being complicit in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.
In his book Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, published in July 2008, Mr Amaral claimed that Madeleine died in her family’s holiday flat on the night she disappeared and questioned the McCanns’ account that she was abducted. A Portuguese judge granted an injunction in September last year banning further sale or publication of the book. The former policeman was also prohibited from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.
The McCann’s will argue that the constant repetition of the opinions of the former coordinator of the investigation leaves them unfairly under suspicion – despite the decision of the Prosecutor General that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges – and undermines the search for Madeleine. They reject any suggestion that Madeleine is dead and continue to investigate the probability of an abduction.
The value underlying the right to reputation that has most resonance is human dignity, while the value that is most apposite to freedom of expression in this context is the argument that free speech is integral to democracy. The argument from democracy emphasizes that speech on matters of public interest should receive greater protection than private speech.
The lawyers will deliver emotive speeches invoking inalienable Human Rights; lacunae in the law will have been pored over late at night, competing cases examined in minute detail. It will be an intellectual tussle, between competing adults. Another army of adults will gather raucously outside the court room; the intransigent adults of the late night Internet chat rooms, who have long since drawn up their battle lines and staked claim to their righteous views, in what has become an obscene on-line version of Cluedo – “it was Kate wot did it, in the conservatory, with the lead pipe”- versus those who believe the parents to be benighted victims of a vicious assault on their reputation. It is hard to believe at times that they are all adults, but adults they are.
However, although the adversarial nature of law scarcely admits the fact, there is another participant, a Silent Voice, but a no less important voice for that, clinging to the legs of both parties, who will, God willing, turn this race for righteous victory into a three-legged race.
It is the oft-forgotten, unheard, voice of Madeleine.
Those who clamour noisily behind the banner of Free Speech and demand that ‘their man’ has the right to publish his theories based on his part-participation in the still incomplete investigation into her disappearance forget that if he is wrong, if his views that she is dead, bolstered by his apparent ‘professional expertise’, gain ascendancy, they are effectively curtailing the search for a small child who may be enduring unimaginable terrors. Madeleine’s ‘right’ to the benefit of doubt as to whether she is rescuable or beyond hope trump any adult right to Freedom of Speech for me.
Those who clamour noisily behind the banner of Reputation and Human Dignity and demand that ‘their champions’ deserve the right to a ‘clean reputation’ until a court can prove conclusively that they were complicit in her demise, forget that, if they are wrong, they are effectively curtailing the search for justice for a small child who cannot speak for herself. Madeleine’s ‘right’ to the benefit of doubt as to whether she was the victim of infanticide or not, trump any adult right to Reputation and Human Dignity for me.
The only outcome of this case which would appease my belief that this clash of the adult Titans is riding roughshod over Madeleine’s rights, would be one which ruled that a former policeman cannot use that platform to promote his personal beliefs as though they were facts, and former arguidos cannot sue for compensation for damaged reputations until such time as Madeleine is found.
Dead or Alive.
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|2010-04-01 12:56:36 Denby 1 - Dead or alive
As usual Anna Raccoon writes a very insightful article but unfortunately, unless Madeleine"s body is found we will continue to hold different views . One thing that cannot be denied is the number of
people for whom Madeleine has become a cash cow, that poor child who had such a short life, because I do believe she is no longer alive.
This case may yet be compared with the jonbenet case which is still a
mystery after all these years.
As usual Anna Raccoon writes a very insightful article but unfortunately, unless Madeleine"s body is found we will continue to hold different views . One thing that cannot be denied is the number of
people for whom Madeleine has become a cash cow, that poor child who had such a short life, because I do believe she is no longer alive.
This case may yet be compared with the jonbenet case which is still a
mystery after all these years.