The long-awaited trial against Christian Brückner was due to start in the German state of Lower Saxony on Friday. The German is accused of three serious rapes and child sexual abuse. But the trial was adjourned after nine minutes.
“Kill the devil”. That is a tweet that one of the judges in the case sent about then Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The woman had repeatedly called for the murder of the controversial radical right-wing and populist politician on social media.
Impartiality
Brückner’s lawyer, Sebastian Fuelscher, screamed bloody murder on Friday and asked for this judge to be revoked. According to him, these radical comments made her unfit to fulfill her task. The court followed Fuelscher and the trial was postponed. (Read more below the photo)
Brückner’s lawyer, Sebastian Fuelscher (center), succeeded in suspending the trial on Friday. — © REUTERS
The woman in question was one of the lay judges during the trial. Ordinary citizens are appointed as judges and must hear the pleas together with professional judges and then decide on the verdict and sentence. An important task, where impartiality is important.
Fully in favor of the acquittal
The recusal is a victory for the defense. As he left the court, Fuelscher addressed the press. “I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve,” he grinned. The defense is fully committed to the acquittal. The German will not cooperate and will not answer questions.
Christian Brücker is on trial for three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of child sexual abuse. He is said to have committed the offenses between the end of December 2000 and June 2017 in Portugal, including on a 20-year-old Irish woman in Praia da Rocha in 2004. (Read more below the photo)
Christian Brücker is on trial for three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of child sexual abuse. — © EPA-EFE
Insufficient evidence
In addition to the above cases, Brückner has been suspected by the German police since 2020 of the kidnapping and murder of the then three-year-old Maddie McCann. On May 3, 2007, she was on holiday with her parents in the Portuguese Algarve. What happened to her is still a big mystery.
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When her parents went to a nearby tapas bar on the last evening of their holiday, she disappeared when her mother went to check whether she was sleeping well. Even her parents were briefly suspected, but they ultimately turned out to be innocent.
Maddie McCann’s parents were briefly suspected of her disappearance, but they ultimately turned out to be innocent. — © AP
Brückner, who lived in the Algarve in 2007, denies all involvement in Maddie’s disappearance. He has not yet been formally charged, partly because no evidence of his involvement has yet been found. It is still unclear whether the German should also stand trial in the McCann case.
Brückner denies all involvement in Maddie’s disappearance. He has not yet been formally charged, partly because no evidence of his involvement has yet been found
7 years in prison
McCann’s file is at the origin of the trial that started on Friday and therefore generated a lot of media attention. “Without the investigation into Maddie, these suspected crimes would never have come to light,” the Braunshweig prosecutor’s office said.
The process will start again next Friday. Brückner is currently serving a seven-year sentence for another rape, that of a 72-year-old American woman, also in Portugal.