crime
Maddie suspect’s trial postponed
The presiding judge Uta Engemann (M.) with the judges Timo Schmidt (l.) and Anke Hesse (r) in the courtroom at the start of the trial. photo
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
Just as the trial against the Maddie suspect is about to begin, the justice system stumbles upon an obstacle.
Because a female lay judge is said to have spread a call for murder on social media, the sexual offenses trial against him is suspended Maddie suspects have been postponed. The 47-year-old Christian B. is accused of three serious rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children. The defendant is said to have committed the crimes in Portugal.
At the beginning of the trial, defense attorney Friedrich Fülscher filed a request for bias against a volunteer judge. She is said to have spread a call for the murder of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on social media.
After about 40 minutes of deliberation, the public prosecutor’s office agreed to the motion for bias. “The statements are outside our legal system,” said senior public prosecutor Ute Lindemann. A call for murder and manslaughter is something “we will not tolerate here”. It is being examined whether criminal proceedings will be initiated against the lay judge.
What’s next?
The trial against Christian B. continues on Friday in a week (February 23rd). Then the reading of the more than 100-page indictment could be on the agenda.
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 Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. The case made headlines around the world, but is not the subject of the current trial in Braunschweig.
From today on, Christian B. has 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.