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Christian B.: Accused of several sexual offenses
Photo: Italian Carabinieri / AP
The trial for aggravated rape and sexual abuse against Christian B., who is also a suspect in the case of the missing Madeleine McCann, is scheduled to begin in February. The start of the proceedings against the 46-year-old is scheduled for February 16, the Braunschweig Regional Court announced. The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office had charged the man in October 2022.
He is accused of three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of child sexual abuse. As the public prosecutor's office in the Lower Saxony city announced at the time, B. is said to have committed the acts in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The victims were girls and women between about ten years of age and senior age. Some of them are apparently unknown, in most cases the investigators refer to video recordings that the accused is said to have made himself.
Already in custody for other offences
In May 2007, the then three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from an apartment complex, also in Portugal. The investigation into her disappearance continues regardless of the current indictment, as prosecutors have repeatedly emphasized. The German investigators are convinced that Christian B., who has a criminal record, kidnapped and killed the girl. However, a body has not yet been found. Recently, allegations against the main prosecution witness in the case became known. He is said to have told the untruth in a rape trial, which is why B.'s lawyer described him as "completely untrustworthy".
B., who has also been convicted of child abuse, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Lower Saxony for, among other things, the rape of a 72-year-old US tourist in Portugal. According to German authorities, he used to stay there regularly.
bbr/dpa