Change of court sought in Maddie McCann suspect trial
German prosecutors are seeking a change of court for a possible rape retrial of the man suspected of being involved in the disappearance of British teenager Madeleine McCann in 2007, a spokesperson told the DPA on Saturday.
In addition to overturning the acquittal, the prosecution requested a retrial of the suspect, identified as Christian B, in accordance with German privacy rules, at the regional court in Göttingen, northern Germany.
The goal is to ensure that trial materials are handled as impartially as possible, spokesman Hans Christian Wolters said.
In October 2024, the Braunschweig Regional Court acquitted the 48-year-old of several serious sexual offenses.
At the time, the presiding judge cited insufficient evidence to convict him of the five offenses committed in Portugal, where the 3-year-old British girl disappeared in 2007 from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz.
The public prosecutor appealed the decision and the Federal Court of Justice is therefore reviewing the verdict for legal errors. The defense had described acquittal as the only correct outcome of the proceedings.
The regional court in Göttingen was not involved in the proceedings in any way, Wolters said, which is why prosecutors believe the case should no longer be heard in Braunschweig, also known as Brunswick in English.
It is still unclear when the Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig will rule on the appeal.
After the Braunschweig trial for three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children, the prosecution requested a prison sentence of 15 years followed by preventive detention.
