The investigations against the former football national player Christoph Metzelder will be conducted in the future by the public prosecutor in Dusseldorf. The case was handed over, said Liddy Oechtering of the Hamburg prosecutor. Metzelder is being investigated for distributing child pornography.
The 38-year-old has not yet commented on the allegations. His lawyer told SPIEGEL last week that he wanted to get an idea of the evidence.
The complaint against Metzelder had been reimbursed in Hamburg, so the first investigations were also conducted here, said Oechtering. According to her, however, the "alleged presumed crime scene" is located in Metzelder's place of residence Düsseldorf. For this reason, the local authority has taken over.
Metzelder is accused of sending child pornography pictures to WhatsApp. At the beginning of September, two addresses of Metzelder were searched. Read more about the case here. Also read: "Stop!": The column of former BGH Judge Thomas Fischer on the case Metzelder.