18 years after he was cleared of attempted murder Briton faces being sent back to prison in Portugal

Yet another PR disaster for the Portuguese justice system:

18 years after he was cleared of attempted murder Briton faces being sent back to prison in Portugal


By CLAIRE ELLICOTT
Last updated at 1:40 AM on 8th March 2012
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Graham Mitchell, seen with his wife, could now face a retrial in Portugal over the death of a German tourist
A man cleared of attempted murder in Portugal 18 years ago was hauled back before the courts yesterday after the country issued a controversial European Arrest Warrant.
Photographer Graham Mitchell spent a year in a Portuguese prison cell before three judges acquitted him and allowed him to return to Britain a free man.
But the father-of-two was arrested and appeared in court yesterday after Portugal applied to have him sent back.
It came as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg defended the European Arrest Warrant and claimed the measure was ‘indispensable’.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told the Portuguese were appealing against Mr Mitchell’s original acquittal in 1995




In court yesterday no one was able to explain why he was charged with murder, rather than attempted murder.
Miss Jenny Agnew, representing Mr Mitchell, said: ‘We need clarification as to why the arrest warrant says first degree murder when the victim is still alive.’
The case was adjourned to allow the prosecutors time to explain the anomaly.
Last night, Mr Mitchell’s wife Laura said: ‘I am frightened to death about what will happen to him. He can’t go back to Portugal after the way they treated him. He is an innocent man.’


Mr Mitchell’s nightmare began in 1994 when he and his friend Warren Tozer, a City insurance worker from Surrey, booked a last minute fishing trip to the Algarve.
Police arrested the former Scots Guardsman and Mr Tozer on suspicion of throwing German tourist Andre Jorling, then 26, over a 12ft sea wall, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.
Mr Mitchell was assaulted and had a pistol rammed into his mouth by a police officer before he and his friend were taken to Faro prison where they were held for 11 months before facing trial.
This was despite evidence proving they had not been involved in the attack. Police were said to have ignored a description the injured tourist had given of his assailants which bore little resemblance to the friends.
Officers also refused to show photographs of the two accused to the victim so he could identify them.
As a result of this evidence, Mr Mitchell and Mr Tozer were cleared by three judges in Portugal and allowed to return to Britain in June of 1995.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111879/Briton-faces-sent-prison-Portugal.html#ixzz1oWRJPs8h

Faro? Oh, what a surprise - NOT.

What the hell!!!!
I guess the British Government hates its voters and fellow countrymen!

It's shocking, isn't it? How many times has this happened now?

Isn't that double jeopardy?

I would have thought so, Tony - and note that it was in Faro that he was threatened by the police?

bb1 wrote:I would have thought so, Tony - and note that it was in Faro that he was threatened by the police?

There is something about the cops in Faro that makes you want to throw up.
Corrupt and thugs are the first two words that spring to mind!

I know, Tony, it is as if they have got away, for years, with operating a police state within the larger democratic state.

It's shocking, and it seems to be never-ending.

It just doesn't make sense at all.
How can your government allow this? The man was acquitted and that should have been the end of it. I just don't understand the Portuguese Justice system or the British on this.

It's because of the European Union, Tony - EAWs were supposed to be used to counter terrorism, etc.

Instead, they are being constantly abused by countries with incompetent legal systems to over-ride the laws of member nations.

It's simple actually - and if anyone here had lived in East Germany when the Stasi controlled the ordinary police you would recognise it for what it is. Despite throwing off the fascist shackles re the outward appearance of the Democratic State, inside is rotten to the core. The Germans were luckier; as they were 2 states that melded into one after the Fall of the Mauer; Portugal is a lone country with no actual examples to follow. It is noticeable in the outer East Europe states such as Bulgaria, Albania and some of the old Yugoslavian states, and those that were co-opted into the Russian Federation after the Soviet Empire collapsed, that old habits die hard. Such it is in Portugal, and until a purge is done of the old diehards, its police will continue to be corrupt and cruel. "You are guilty because I say you are, and when I have planted the evidence, or beaten you into a pulp, or even killed you, a court will merely confirm this." LL

bb1 wrote:It's because of the European Union, Tony - EAWs were supposed to be used to counter terrorism, etc.

Instead, they are being constantly abused by countries with incompetent legal systems to over-ride the laws of member nations.

Did the UK government give up its citizens rights when it signed the European Union treaty?
Because from where I'm sitting it sure as hell looks that way.

That is exactly what the UK did, Tony.

Not quite correct. EAWs were to provide a cheaper and more effective method of bringing fugitives to justice, and to avoid long and protracted extradition proceedings.

It is based on the premise that all European legal systems are equal in terms of efficiency and fairness, and the very fact of legal proceedings being brought in an EU country should be accepted by all other EU countries.

There are a few safeguards - you cannot be arrested under an EAW for an offence that is not an offence in your country of residence, for example.

I am surprised at how supine many defence lawyers seem to be, and how lacking in attention to detail.
And also how reluctant some judges are to exercise the powers they do have.

If the Daily Mail have reported this correctly, and the EAW was issued for murder, then this leads to quite a few obvious avenues for challenge.

Apparently, Portugal is Appealing the original Verdict, which is always a Legal possibility. But how they can do that after 18 years is beyond me, especially when the original charge was Attempted Murder as the victim is still alive, so obviously not Murdered.

This will be laughed out of Court. Or else.
EAWs by the nature of them have to be CORRECT, which this one clearly isn't.

Thanks for the clarification, Jean Pierre.

There are a few safeguards - you cannot be arrested under an EAW for an offence that is not an offence in your country of residence, for example.

What, like not killing someone who isn't dead?

Precisely.

The problem is the principle that a EAW is a "no questions asked" arrangement. And as a nation we tend to have a respect for the rules which is not universally reciprocated.

Can you imagine a French court meekly submitting to this sort of thing?

I never have been happy about this, "Arrangement". in any shape. France refused to sign it, by the way. They prefer to stick to the original rule.

I´m not surprised about this PT justice issue.

I agree with bb1: "Yet another PR disaster for the Portuguese justice system".

It's crazy, Pedro, this must be the worst yet?

bb1 wrote:It's crazy, Pedro, this must be the worst yet?

Why did it take them eighteen years to appeal the original acquittal?

Well said, Tony:

http://thehoundingofthemccans.blogspot.com/2012/03/someone-up-and-stole-great-that-once.html

I wonder why France decided not to join? Well, I don't actually. But I do wonder why Britain did.

PS. I dropped the "Great" a long time ago.

bb1, this is the answer to your question.

http://www.jn.pt/PaginaInicial/Seguranca/Interior.aspx?content_id=2340382

Father kills son shot in a neighborhood of Olhão after a violent argument

A 18 year old was killed this morning with a shot in the neighborhood of the Panthers, in Olhão, in front of the school of João da Rosa. The suspect is the father, who gave himself to the PSP.

A violent argument between the two was the murder. Disagreements began at home and continued on the street where the shot was fired which struck the young man in the face. Died instantly.

The father waited for the arrival of the police and gave himself up without resistance. The gun, according to witnesses, will be a shotgun barrel sawn, was seized.

The PSP supports the hypothesis that the offense was committed with the use of a weapon of alarm that has been transformed into a firearm.

According to Lusa said the official day of the PSP control, weapons of licensed alarm did not manage to turn in firearms, but those that are "easily purchased" on the black market can be transformed simply by changing only the barrel.

Good God.