LUXEMBOURG, Sept 24 — The European Court of Justice today rejected an appeal against a rape conviction by the prime suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, meaning he will have to remain in jail for now.
The suspect’s challenge had been against a conviction in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005. It is entirely separate to the inquiry into McCann’s 2007 disappearance.
But investigators in Germany were watching the case anxiously as it has a bearing on whether the German suspect identified only as Christian B. could be released from prison in the coming months.
With the ruling, the ECJ dealt a blow to the 43-year-old suspect.
It found the rape conviction justified because Italian authorities, who had arrested and handed the him over to German authorities, had given their consent for him to be prosecuted for that case.
Christian B., who has a string of convictions over different crimes, is now serving a sentence for drug trafficking in the northern German city of Kiel which ends on January 7, 2021.
He had applied for early release and could have been freed if the separate sentence over the rape in Portugal was thrown out by the ECJ.
Today’s ruling would therefore mean that when the jail term for drug trafficking ends, the prison time for rape would then follow.
McCann, known as Maddie, went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas bar.
Despite a huge international manhunt, no trace of her has been found, nor has anyone been charged over her disappearance.
But in June, German prosecutors made the stunning announcement that they were investigating a 43-year-old German man in connection with the case, saying they have “concrete evidence” he had killed Maddie.
British police are however still treating her disappearance as a missing persons case. — AFP
