• 09/14/2020 Metzelder confesses possession of child pornography

The former German international and former Real Madrid player

Christoph Metzelder

was sentenced this Thursday to

ten months of probation

, after having confessed guilty to possession of child pornography and having shared these contents on WhatsApp. The Administrative Court of Düsseldorf imposed this sentence on him, hours after the process was opened and the defendant

admitted to having shared 18 files with child

and juvenile

pornography

, in addition to apologizing to the victims of sexual violence.

"I will accept the sentence and I apologize to the victims of sexual violence. I will

bear all my life with the guilt of having caused this evil to society,

" said the defendant, shortly after opening the trial against him on those charges.

He pleaded partially guilty to the charges against him -that is, those related to those 18 files-, although not of the close to 300 that the prosecution's accusation included.

The sentence gives as proven at least 26 cases of possession and exchange of this type of content.

The penalty provided by the Administrative Court of Düsseldorf (west) for a confession in this regard ranged from 10 to 12 months of probation.

Metzelder appeared this Thursday for the first time before the German court to answer the charges of possession and exchange through WhatsApp of juvenile pornography, including

images of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl, which he shared repeatedly and on successive days

.

These and other images were presented to the audience by the prosecution.

His defense had requested that he be allowed to enter through a lateral access, to avoid the media, which was denied.

His arrival at the court was surrounded by a strong media display, as well as the first minutes of his entry into the courtroom where he was being processed.

The cameras were then removed, in accordance with German practice, which does not authorize their presence to follow the trials.

Partial confession

In the reading of the charges against the former player, the prosecution included details about one of the cases, in August 2019, in which he shared images of abuse of a ten-year-old girl on successive days, reports the regional public television

WDR

.

The first statement of the 40-year-old former player, at the beginning of the view, focused on his professional career, his commitment to different social projects, as well as the public recognition obtained both in the field of football and in the private sphere.

He did not rule then on the charges against him, although he insisted that since September 2019 he has been retired and concentrated in private.

After a pause in the hearing, his statement was resumed, which was followed by a partial confession.

After that confession, Metzelder declared that he would

return the distinctions obtained, including the Federal Cross of Merit

, the highest institutional recognition granted by the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

Several hearings were scheduled for the process, until May 10.

His confession hastened the sentence.

Year and a half under suspicion

Suspicions against Metzelder came to light through the media in September 2019. Initially, the identity of the former player was preserved from the judicial establishment.

But some media, such as

Bild,

spread the case citing him as a suspect, while the main implicated is a woman, out of the total of three with whom he apparently shared those files.

The Düsseldof Prosecutor's Office presented its formal accusation on September 4, still without citing the person implicated by name.

From the prosecution's text it was deduced, according to the aforementioned newspaper, that Metzelder had at least partially confessed the charges.

There were searches related to the case and the police seized various objects, including at least one mobile phone and one computer.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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