Christian Brückner, who is accused of three counts of rape and two counts of sexual abuse, all of which date back between 2000 and 2017, appeared in court in the northern German city of Braunschweig.
He is presently serving a seven-year prison term for sexual assault.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann has never resulted in Brückner being prosecuted.
He has refuted any knowledge of it.
In 2007, the three-year-old British child disappeared from a vacation rental in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve region of Portugal. It is still one of the most well-known situations involving missing persons worldwide.
German investigators classified Christian Brückner, 47, as a suspect in 2020 for a homicide investigation. Later on, Portuguese authorities declared him an arguido, or formal suspect.
However, Brückner has never been officially charged in the McCann case, and the German investigation’s complete findings have never been made public.
Caution: Some of the German case’s specifics may distress you.
This is his first public court appearance since he was connected to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, which took place on Friday in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.
In a trial that will be presided over by judges rather than a jury, he is accused with five distinct and unconnected offenses in Portugal:
