Brazil – Rio de Janeiro: Husband found dead – diplomat suspect back in Germany

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In this house in Rio de Janeiro, the German diplomat lived with his husband (photo from August 6, 2022)

Photo: ANDRE BORGES / AFP

The German diplomat, who was arrested in Brazil in early August for a homicide, has returned to Germany.

According to SPIEGEL information, the 60-year-old landed on Monday morning in a scheduled flight in Frankfurt am Main.

The man was surprisingly released after several weeks in custody because the public prosecutor's office had not submitted the necessary documents for an indictment against the German.

After his release, the Foreign Office employee apparently drove straight to the airport and boarded a Lufthansa jet to Frankfurt, as no exit restrictions had been imposed on him.

The 60-year-old was arrested in early August on suspicion of killing his Belgian husband on August 5.

The diplomat himself had stated that his husband had fallen from the balcony of their shared apartment after a dispute under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The police, however, doubted the version, since traces of blood were found in the apartment, which indicated a fight.

A coroner later found various injuries on the body and believes the victim was killed by blunt force trauma.

How the case will continue is unclear.

In Germany, the fourth murder commission of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office is to take over the investigation.

The investigators are now to make a request for legal assistance to Brazil via the judiciary in order to get the research results from the local police.

Senior diplomat

The suspect was Chancellor at the Consulate General in Brazil and thus one of the highest-ranking diplomats at the country's representation.

He should be transferred to a new post in Haiti in the coming months.

This, at least he told the police, caused a heated argument with his husband.

The Foreign Office did not want to say anything specific about the employee's return to Germany.

A spokesman said they had been in contact with the local authorities in the past few weeks and learned that the German had been released from custody.

For reasons of privacy protection, however, he could not provide any further information.

The case made headlines in Brazil and Germany, partly because the local investigative authorities made large parts of the investigation public, including pictures from the two men's apartments.

Even parts of the diplomat's interrogation video were published on social media.

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