Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Bruekner was illegally extradited to Germany to face a rape trial, EU’s top court is told
German authorities did not follow correct procedures when they extradited a German man from Italy for a rape charge whom investigators also suspect of murdering British toddler Madeleine McCann, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday.
Christian Brueckner, who lived in the Algarve region of Portugal when 3-year-old Madeleine vanished from her bedroom in 2007, had challenged the validity of the European arrest warrant issued by Germany because it cited a drugs conviction but not the 2005 rape charge.
EU law states that people extradited on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant can only be prosecuted for crimes listed in the document.
The 43-year-old German was extradited to Germany from Italy under the warrant in 2018 and subsequently convicted and sentenced for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in December 2019.
German authorities did not follow correct procedures when they extradited a German man from Italy for a rape charge whom investigators also suspect of murdering British toddler Madeleine McCann, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday
Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing from her parents holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007
A German court subsequently sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
German authorities were required to get the consent of the Italian authorities for the rape charge so that the former could carry out their proceedings lawfully, CJEU Advocate General Michal Bobek said in a non-binding opinion.
The Court, which will rule in the coming months, follows such non-binding recommendations in four out of five cases.
Brueckner is currently serving a sentence for drug dealing in the prison in Kiel in the north of Germany but could be freed any day now as he has already served two-thirds of his sentence.
Brueckner was extradited from Portugal to Germany in 2017 where he was jailed for sex offences against children.
He was released in August 2018 but was put under 'surveillance' and required to meet with a probation officer once a month.
But he fled the country – first to the Netherlands and then on to Italy – and was arrested in Milan and extradited back to Germany and jailed for drug offences dating back to 2011.
His lawyer told the court last month he had simply 'gone on holiday' and that there had been no requirement for him to inform the authorities he was leaving the country.
He said: 'In the framework of the supervision order he was not required to remain on German territory.'
Last month German police named the serial sex offender as their prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of three-year-old Madeleine who vanished on May 3rd 2007 while on holiday in Praia da Luz with parents Kate and Gerry McCann.
Mobile phone data showed Brueckner was in Praia da Luz when the little girl - who was just days away from turning four - was taken.
German investigators also allege that records show he received a 30-minute phone call on the night of the crime.
Detectives in northern Germany have spent months making desperate appeals for information to link Brueckner to the youngster's abduction but have not so far secured the vital evidence they need.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation, has told the McCanns they have concrete evidence that Madeleine is dead, in the biggest break-through in the 13-year-old case.
He said he hoped to be able to charge Brueckner within the next two months – but has added that their investigation will not drag on forever.
Wolters has said the outcome of the ECJ hearing could result in Brueckner's rape conviction being quashed.
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