German suspect in Madeleine McCann disappearance is released after serving time in unrelated case

Police said that a German citizen was under investigation of the disappearance of a young man Madeleine Macan 18 years ago, who was released from prison on Wednesday after he was sentenced to a related case.

The man, who was recognized by the media as Christian Brookner, was serving a seven -year prison sentence that arose for his conviction for 2019 by raping an American woman of 72 years in Portugal.

A car, accompanied by several police trucks from prison in Sendi, near Hanover, in Northern Germany, on Wednesday morning. The police confirmed that the man had left.

In June 2020, German prosecutors said that the man was being investigated on suspicion of his association with the disappearance of Macan on May 3, 2007, from a residential complex in the Portuguese Braia da Luz Resort. They said they assumed that the girl had died.

Jerry, the left, and Kate Macan, Madeleine Macan, the four -year -old, presents a picture of their daughter during a press conference in Berlin, on Wednesday, June 6, 2007.

AP Photo/Sven Kaestner, File

The police have since had more searches in Portugal. But the suspect, who denied any involvement in her disappearance, was not charged in the case. The investigation is not affected by his release. Also, he is still suspected of investigating the disappearance of Macan, which is conducted by the British capital police, and who says he refused their request to conduct an interview.

His lawyer, Friedrich Filsher, said that the charges had been brought against his client for a long time if there was sufficient evidence.

The 48 -year -old spent many years in Portugal, including at Algarve Resort at Praia Da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Investigators in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Germany are still collecting what happened on the 3 -year -old Madeleine. She was in the same room as her brother and sister – two years of twins – while their parents took Kate and Jerry dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant.

The suspect was tried last year due to many unrealistic sexual crimes, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 and was acquitted in October. The main judge said that the evidence was not sufficient to condemn, that the court heard from unreliable witnesses and that some were affected by media reports on the defendant.

The state court in Hildeshim said that she could not detect legally whether he would have to fulfill any conditions after his release. But Fülscher assured the regional public broadcaster that his client will be asked to wear an electronic football mark, and a regular report on monitoring services and abandoning his passport. German weekly Der Spiegel mentioned this decision, without naming sources.

He still faces a date for the court on October 27 in Oldenburg in northwestern Germany in a case in which he was accused of insulting an prison employee. A local court in the city sentenced him to six weeks in prison because of this, but the defense resumed.

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