Christian Brückner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, appeared in court in Braunschweig, Germany, on Friday on charges of sexual assault and rape unrelated to the McCann case. However, the trial was adjourned after just nine minutes due to an objection from Brückner's defence lawyer.
The 47-year-old German is accused of three counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse of children, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The charges include an attack on an elderly woman in her holiday flat, the rape of an Irish woman, and the sexual abuse of two young girls.
Brückner's defence lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, objected to one of the lay judges, claiming she was biased after she posted angry tweets in 2019 calling for the murder of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The presiding judge, Ute Lindemann, accepted the objection and adjourned the trial until next Friday, when a new lay judge will be appointed.
Brückner, who is already serving a seven-year prison sentence for a 2005 rape in Portugal, has denied any involvement in Madeleine McCann's disappearance. He has dismissed the current charges as 'absurd' and his legal team is seeking acquittal on all counts.
The trial is expected to last until the end of June, with 40 witnesses called to testify. Among them are individuals who claim to have seen homemade videos of Brückner raping women, though the whereabouts of these videos remain unknown.
