As of: February 15, 2024, 9:45 a.m
By: Martina Lippl
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Christian B. is already in custody for rape.
Now the criminal must answer for other serious allegations.
He is also suspected in the Maddie case.
Munich – There has been no trace of the missing Madeleine McCann for almost 17 years.
The then three-year-old disappeared from a holiday apartment on Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007.
The convicted sex offender Christian B. has been a key figure in the Maddie case since 2020 and is suspected of murder.
Now the 47-year-old is once again in the spotlight because he is said to have raped women and abused girls.
Criminal trial against Maddie suspect starts on February 16, 2024
The trial will begin on February 16, 2024 at the Braunschweig Regional Court.
Charges were brought against Christian B. for five sexual crimes.
The suspect is said to have committed the crimes in Portugal between the end of December 2000 and June 2017.
Rape of an unidentified woman aged between 70 and 80 in her holiday home in Portugal between 2000 and 2006
Rape of a 14-year-old girl in her home in Praia da Luz between 2000 and 2006
Rape of a young woman after breaking into her home in 2004
Sexual abuse of a child on the beach in 2007
Sexual abuse of a child on a playground in 2017
Indictment contains more than 100 pages – public prosecutor’s office
The indictment from the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office runs to more than 100 pages.
This was preceded by “several years of very intensive and complex investigations in several European countries,” particularly by the Federal Criminal Police Office.
“According to the files, the defendant must expect a prison sentence of up to 15 years,” said senior public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters in advance to the
dpa
news agency .
Subsequent preventive detention may also be considered.
Of course, it depends on how the evidence is taken as to whether all allegations can be confirmed and proven.
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In the case of sexual abuse in 2017, the frightened girl alerted her father, whereupon the accused was caught on site by police officers.
Defense attorney assumes his client Christian B. will be acquitted
“We want acquittals,” said public defender Friedrich Fülscher from Kiel to the
dpa
.
This applies to all charges.
The lawyer left it open whether his client would speak out in court or whether he planned to remain silent.
“At the moment I do not assume that there will be any substantive submissions,” the
BBC
quoted the lawyer as saying in an email response.
The interest of the British press in the trial against Christian B. is great.
Media regularly report on the Maddie McCann case.
Despite massive prior convictions in the public, Flüscher hopes for a fair trial for his client, the defense attorney said last fall when the trial was announced.
In the Maddie case, suspect Christian B. has been in prison since 2019
Christian B. is currently in prison for raping an American woman in Portugal in 2005.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in a trial in 2019.
According to previous information from the public prosecutor's office, the offense would have been served in 2025.
Whether the suspect will then remain behind bars will probably be decided in the trial.
So far, 29 dates have been planned for the criminal trial in Braunschweig until the end of June.
The court said it would only be clarified in the main proceedings whether the allegations were true or not.
Any person accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by law.
View of the main entrance to the Braunschweig Regional Court.
The trial against Christian B. for five serious sexual offenses is taking place here.
© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa
According to the public prosecutor's office, the charges were brought to the youth chamber of the Braunschweig Regional Court because the victims of some of the accused acts were children or young people and therefore so-called youth protection matters were involved.
The trial against the accused was delayed
The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office had already brought charges against Christian B. in October 2022.
However, the Braunschweig regional court initially declared itself not responsible for the case.
After a complaint, things changed.
In May 2023, a search operation in Portugal again drew attention to the missing person case of Maddie McCann.
Investigators searched for evidence at a reservoir for three days.
Forensic scientists came up with various theories.
There was talk of a breakthrough.
Apparently photos triggered the operation.
Maddie's body has not been found.
B. has not yet been charged in the Maddie case.
However, the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office and the Federal Criminal Police Office are continuing to investigate him on suspicion of murder.
(ml)