Bild yesterday, google translate.
Braunschweig –
The decision of the district court in Braunschweig hit like a bomb.
Since the last German place of residence of the accused
Christian Brückner (46) was not in Braunschweig, as assumed by the public prosecutor's office, one is "not responsible" for a rape trial against the previously convicted child molester, the court said.
The eagerly awaited trial against the man who is said to have kidnapped and killed Maddie McCann (then 3) , who had disappeared since 2007, from an apartment in Portugal has burst for the time being.
Although the regional court lifted the arrest warrant, Christian Brückner remains in prison.
He is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Oldenburg JVA for raping an American woman (72 at the time).
But: Brückner has served 4.5 years. After two-thirds of the sentence, release on probation is theoretically possible, which Brückner has already applied for according to BILD information.
However, given the ongoing investigations, it is unlikely that it will be approved.
According to prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, the court's decision initially does not change anything for his authority: "We are continuing to investigate the Maddie case and the accused remains in custody."
The reasons will be discussed and "the decision will then probably be reviewed by the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court."
Brückner's Kiel lawyer Friedrich Fülscher (38) had already questioned Braunschweig's jurisdiction in September 2022. The court now agreed with him.
"Should the public prosecutor's office challenge the well-founded decision of the regional court with a complaint, it would be clear that this is also about the personal vanities of the civil servants," said Fülscher. “Even the complaint costs time that another public prosecutor’s office could use sensibly.
The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig would also take considerable risks without need: even if the higher regional court in Braunschweig came to a different conclusion, the regional court would not be bound by this decision during the main hearing and could discontinue the proceedings with a judgement."
According to Fülscher, the only right thing to do is hand the case over to another public prosecutor's office as soon as possible.
If the Higher Regional Court has decided (or if the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office does not lodge an appeal), the files in Braunschweig would have to be packed up and handed over to a new public prosecutor's office.
Colleagues in Magdeburg (Brückner owned a property in Saxony-Anhalt) or Frankfurt (here he was handed over to the German authorities after his arrest in Italy) would then be considered. The hope of the defense: A new public prosecutor's office could continue the investigation with less zeal than the colleagues in Braunschweig.
According to BILD information, the prosecution witnesses who were supposed to testify against Brückner in the planned rape trial were just as surprised by the decision as the public prosecutor's office.
Nach dem geplatzten Prozess in Braunschweig: So geht es jetzt weiter im Fall Maddie McCann
www.bild.de
