It is very important that this case Rui Pedro has come to trial, says the Association Missing Children

My friends, I received this through google alert:

http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?t=E-muito-importante-que-este-caso-Rui-Pedro-tenha-chegado-a-julgamento-diz-a-Associacao-Criancas-Desaparecidas.rtp&article=500499&layout=10&visual=3&tm=8

It is very important that this case Rui Pedro has come to trial, says the Association Missing Children

It is very important that this case Rui Pedro has come to trial, says the Association Missing Children

The disappearance of Rui Pedro, in March 1998 in Lousada, "radically changed the way the authorities view the missing children," Margarida Uva Barroso, President of the Portuguese Association of Missing Children (APCD) said today.

"It's very important that this case has come to trial," the person in charge of the association told to the journalists , on the steps of the Court of Lousada, adding that "since the case of Rui Pedro, much has changed in terms of procedures."

"Unfortunately, Rui Pedro's mother was extremely isolated because at the time did not know how to proceed in these cases," continued Margarida Barroso, who followed the case closely with the family of the boy missing for thirteen years.

The most recent case of Madeleine McCann came "still give a new perspective on these cases of disappearance," the president considered the APCD, to conclude that "since the Portuguese society was much more concerned about these cases and the police much more alert and ready to collaborate with other civil society organizations, such as the Portuguese Association for Missing Children's Institute or Child Support. "

"When my husband was elected president of the European Commission," told Margarida Barroso, "I attended a conference in Brussels organized by Queen Paula of Belgium of the European Federation for Missing Children and from that moment I joined the Federation and the International Centre for Missing Children "he said.

"Since then," continued the president of the APCD, "the Federation has been trying to figure out what is the disappearance of leaks and distinguish the parental kidnapping and third parties, as the case of Rui Pedro, as it seems."

Margarida Barroso, since the disappearance of the boy lousadense, then eleven years in Lousada, developed "a Europe-wide search for a harmony between the laws and procedures at the police."

To the wife of Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, the expectation regarding the trial is "simply that justice is done."

"Nobody wants to condemn an innocent," she told to the press, "and no one came here to find a culprit to full strength. If indeed Afonso Dias is guilty, then there is sufficient evidence to convict him," she stated.

"Glad to hear anyone looking at the process again and realized that there were grounds for prosecution", called the president of the APCD, "because there are many indications, as to the evidence, we'll see."

"since the case of Rui Pedro, much has changed in terms of procedures."

I don't think Madeleine's parents saw any change for the better!!

I agree with you jean.

My friends, another update:

http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/?t=Acusado-do-rapto-de-Rui-Pedro-recusou-prestar-declaracoes-no-inicio-do-julgamento.rtp&article=500514&visual=3&layout=10&tm=8

Accused of the kidnapping of Rui Pedro refused to comment at the beginning of the trial

The man accused of kidnapping Rui Pedro, the child of Lousada who disappeared on March 4, 1998, refused today in the first session of the trial, to testify in court.

Afonso Dias, 35, accused of a qualified crime of kidnap, said that "at this moment, not wanted to talk" to the collective.

Previously, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, the lawyer of Rui Pedro´s family, reaffirmed that the assistants just want to know what happened to their son on "that fateful day."

"What parents desires the most is that they can find their son still alive and to know what happened that day, even on the set of possible death," said Ricardo Sá Fernandes.

According to the lawyer, it was important for parents to "know it" to "able to mourn."

The lawyer maintained that the evidence which the prosecution, incriminating Afonso Dias are "solid, consistent and congruent", namely that the accused who was solicited and took Rui Pedro, then 11 years, to an encounter with a prostitute, after which was never seen again.

Ricardo Sá Fernandes also censored the lack of "cooperation, to establish the facts," of Afonso in the process, insisting that the assistants still have hope, that from the eventual trial testimony of the accused, "to light out" about what happened to Rui Pedro.

The lawyer concluded that if proven at a hearing of the facts contained in the indictment, the defendant, "the severity of his behavior, she hould be severely condemned."

"It must be punished, because what you did was very serious," he said, turning to Afonso Dias.

The defense, through the lawyer Paulo Gomes, reaffirmed that the evidence contained in the indictment are not enough of them and many questions arise.

The lawyer acknowledged the suffering of the parents of missing child, but also alluded to what is felt "a man who may have nothing" to do with the disappearance of Rui Pedro.

Paulo Gomes in the court reaffirmed the conviction that his client is innocent, insisting that it will hit an audience that "the truth is ascertained the facts."

The beginning of the session was marked by the analysis of several requests made by the defense, including one that asked to be allowed by the court the absence of the accused during the trial. The defense claimed that, professionally, was too complicated for Afonso Dias, driver, absent from work for several weeks.

The court did not respond to the request because it did not fit in some of the situations that the law requires to justify the absence of defendants at the hearing.

The court also rejected the defense request about the possibility of reporting a prosecutor who participated in the process in the period following the disappearance of Rui Pedro.

The collective found not to be allowed the questioning as a witness in the trial, a magistrate to have been involved in the process, although in its early stages.

The hearing will resume in the afternoon for the examination of dozens of witnesses presented by the prosecution.

The start of the trial was also marked by the presence of many popular that filled the courtroom of the court of Lousada.