As of: February 16, 2024, 10:45 a.m
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A lantern lights up in front of the regional court in the morning.
© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa
A trial against the sex offender Christian B. has begun in Braunschweig.
He is suspected of murdering little Maddie, who disappeared in 2007.
But there are currently other allegations.
Braunschweig - The trial against the German suspected of murder in the Maddie case for five sexual offenses began on Friday under high security precautions.
The 47-year-old Christian B. is accused of three serious rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children.
The defendant Christian B. entered the hall in the Braunschweig Regional Court wearing a lilac shirt with white stripes and a light gray jacket.
The dark-blond, slim man did not hide his face and appeared composed.
He took a seat between his four defenders.
The 47-year-old had previously been taken to Braunschweig in a prison van.
At the start of the trial, defense attorney Friedrich Fülscher filed a motion for bias against a female lay judge.
The meeting was initially interrupted for 40 minutes.
Maddie from Great Britain missing since 2007
In June 2020, German investigators surprisingly announced that they suspected murder of the convicted sex offender in the case of Maddie from Great Britain, who had been missing since 2007.
The then three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007.
The case made headlines around the world, but is not the subject of the current trial in Braunschweig.
Since Friday, Christian B. has had to answer in court for five sexual crimes.
Among other things, he is said to have raped a then 20-year-old woman from Ireland in an apartment in Portugal in 2004.
The crowds in front of the Braunschweig regional court on Friday morning were so great that the originally planned start at 9 a.m. could not be kept, as dpa reporters reported.
Long queues formed in front of the building and media people and visitors had to undergo extensive security measures before entering.
Jail sentence for another rape
The 47-year-old is currently serving a prison sentence for another rape.
He was convicted at the end of 2019 for an act that also occurred in Praia da Luz in 2005 - the place where three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007.
The Braunschweig Regional Court is responsible because Christian B. had his last German residence in the Lower Saxony city.
According to a court spokeswoman, no witnesses were invited for the first day of the trial.
While the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office seeks to convict the defendant for all of the accused crimes, defense attorney Friedrich Fülscher assumes his client's innocence and wants to achieve acquittals.
It is the presumption of innocence.
dpa