Court cancels arrest warrant against Christian B.
Christian B. is the prime suspect in the Maddie case. In the trial in Braunschweig, he has to account for other charges, including three rapes. However, the court no longer sees an urgent suspicion of crime towards him. Nevertheless, he remains in prison.
The arrest warrant against Christian B., who is also a suspect in the Maddie case, has been lifted. Regarding the accusations against the 47-year-old German for five serious crimes against sexual self-determination, there is no urgent suspicion of crime, the Braunschweig Regional Court announced. However, the man remains in prison due to a conviction from 2019 for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.
The defense of the repeatedly convicted sexual offender had filed the corresponding application for revocation because, according to the current course of the investigation, there is no longer a reason for an arrest warrant. The Chamber denied the urgent suspicion of crime in relation to all the accusations, as the court stated.
An urgent suspicion of crime exists when, based on the current investigation results, there is a high probability that the accused committed the crime. The suspicion is only sufficient when, in the preliminary assessment, a conviction is more likely than an acquittal. The defenders wanted to demand a status quo from the Chamber with the application. According to the current course of the investigation, the arrest warrant can no longer exist, defense attorney Friedrich Fülscher stated in explanation.
Christian B. is accused of three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children in the ongoing trial. The defendant has remained silent so far, and the presumption of innocence applies. The Maddie complex is officially not part of the proceedings. The investigations into the disappearance of the three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007 continue. The next trial date in the current trial is on July 5.
- Despite the court's decision to lift the arrest warrant due to lack of urgent suspicion in the sexual abuse cases, Christian B. still faces charges for three rapes, one of which occurred in Portugal in 2005.
- In the international arena, the Brunswick court's decision not to view Christian B. as a prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has raised questions about how cross-border investigations into sexual abuse and other serious crimes are handled.
- The ongoing trial against Christian B. in Brunswick involves charges of rape and sexual abuse, but the Maddie case itself is not a central focus, as the investigations into Madeleine McCann's disappearance continue separately.
