Yes, but that's not him. HCW is der Sprecher der Erster Staatsanwalt - literally 'the speaker of the chief prosecutor', i.e. his spokesman.
Madeleine McCann: German prisoner identified as suspect #28
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Yes, but that's not him. HCW is der Sprecher der Erster Staatsanwalt - literally 'the speaker of the chief prosecutor', i.e. his spokesman.
You could be correct in that interpretation
What is confusing is HCW is routinely referred to as "Staatsanwalt" in reliable media here in Germany. But that might be because that is his official rank rather than his role. Or is he a prosecutor in that office who is also the media contact point?
I could call the office and ask but honestly i can't be bothered
ETA - seems we may both be right.
If you look at the press contact for the Oberstaatsanwalt it appears Herr Ziehe does in fact hold the rank Oberstaatsanwalt as well as being the press contact for that office.
Der Niedersachse der Woche… – Rundblick Niedersachsen
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It's possible they have a co-operation for trial preparation support now. After all the Met has no doubt amassed a lot of info, and they also have access to UK based witnesses
Just a guess
You could be correct in that interpretation
What is confusing is HCW is routinely referred to as "Staatsanwalt" in reliable media here in Germany. But that might be because that is his official rank rather than his role. Or is he a prosecutor in that office who is also the media contact point?
I could call the office and ask but honestly i can't be bothered
ETA - seems we may both be right.
If you look at the press contact for the Oberstaatsanwalt it appears Herr Ziehe does in fact hold the rank Oberstaatsanwalt as well as being the press contact for that office.
Der Niedersachse der Woche… – Rundblick Niedersachsen
"Die Staatsanwaltschaft Braunschweig wird von Herrn Leitenden Oberstaatsanwalt Dirk Amthauer geleitet, sein Vertreter ist Herr OStA Frank im Sande."
HCW I gather is both a prosecutor and the speaker/spokesperson for the office. He is a senior prosecutor like others in this office. His role in MM's case then is as a spokesperson for the prosecution. Im Sande took office as Deputy Chief prosecutor (leading the office) in 2021.
Ute L. Is leading prosecutor against CB. (CB knows that, therefore his first sketch with the filet forensics...)
Die Staatsanwaltschaft Braunschweig hat einen neuen stellvertretenden Behördenleiter | Staatsanwaltschaft Braunschweig
Therefore, HCW's job as press representative is to answer all questions from the media. That is also why we find quotes of him in the Braunschweig's news media discussing the new documentary etc. I am wondering whether he has been trained enough for media interviews... i remember finding a report (which i have linked in a previous post here) where it was discussed that many prosecutors, judges, etc do not have enough media training before they go out there to be devoured by the MSM...
SuperdadV8
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It's usual in germany, that a prosecutor (Staatsanwalt) additionaly holds the function of the press speaker. Therefore he has to work less on cases but he works as a prosecutor as well.
Courts and police forces use the same procedure e.g., they also have press speakers, but they do their usual work as well.
Courts and police forces use the same procedure e.g., they also have press speakers, but they do their usual work as well.
Thanks Super.
RSBM
This is something we discussed at the very start of all this. For a german public servant to deal with the UK press pack for the first time, let alone on such an explosive story is a very steep learning curve.
I wonder if they hired in any consultancy?
trying to find who prosecutes CB, I stumbled upon the 2020 court ruling for the case of CB's rape sentence and the execution of the European arrest warrant.
XC was prosecuted in Germany in three separate sets of criminal proceedings relating to the offences of (i) trafficking in narcotic drugs, (ii) sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and (iii) aggravated rape in conjunction with extortion, also committed in Portugal.
First of all, on 6 October 2011, XC was convicted of trafficking in narcotic drugs by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll, Germany) and given a combined custodial sentence of one year and nine months. That sentence was suspended on probation.
Next, in 2016, criminal proceedings were instituted in Germany against XC for the offence of sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and, on 23 August 2016, the Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Hanover, Germany) issued a European arrest warrant for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution in respect of that offence. After the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora, Portugal) authorised XC’s surrender to the German judicial authorities for that offence and XC did not renounce the specialty rule at that time, he was surrendered on 22 June 2017 to the Federal Republic of Germany by the Portuguese judicial authorities. He was sentenced to a custodial sentence of one year and three months and was imprisoned in that Member State.
While XC was serving the custodial sentence imposed on him for sexual abuse of a minor, the suspension on probation of the sentence imposed pursuant to the judgment delivered by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011 for trafficking in narcotic drugs was revoked. On 22 August 2018, the Staatsanwaltschaft Flensburg (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Flensburg, Germany) asked the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora), as the judicial authority executing the European arrest warrant referred to in paragraph 11 above, to renounce the application of the specialty rule and to consent to the execution of the sentence imposed by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011.
which one is that?? is that a mistake? do they refer to the daughter of CB's gf in Germany? is it possible that they make such mistakes in the official ruling?
moreover, his lawyers in this case are M. Franzikowski and F. S. Fülscher. It's the first time I hear of MF.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=ecli:ECLI:EU:C:2020:749
XC was prosecuted in Germany in three separate sets of criminal proceedings relating to the offences of (i) trafficking in narcotic drugs, (ii) sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and (iii) aggravated rape in conjunction with extortion, also committed in Portugal.
First of all, on 6 October 2011, XC was convicted of trafficking in narcotic drugs by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll, Germany) and given a combined custodial sentence of one year and nine months. That sentence was suspended on probation.
Next, in 2016, criminal proceedings were instituted in Germany against XC for the offence of sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and, on 23 August 2016, the Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Hanover, Germany) issued a European arrest warrant for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution in respect of that offence. After the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora, Portugal) authorised XC’s surrender to the German judicial authorities for that offence and XC did not renounce the specialty rule at that time, he was surrendered on 22 June 2017 to the Federal Republic of Germany by the Portuguese judicial authorities. He was sentenced to a custodial sentence of one year and three months and was imprisoned in that Member State.
While XC was serving the custodial sentence imposed on him for sexual abuse of a minor, the suspension on probation of the sentence imposed pursuant to the judgment delivered by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011 for trafficking in narcotic drugs was revoked. On 22 August 2018, the Staatsanwaltschaft Flensburg (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Flensburg, Germany) asked the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora), as the judicial authority executing the European arrest warrant referred to in paragraph 11 above, to renounce the application of the specialty rule and to consent to the execution of the sentence imposed by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011.
which one is that?? is that a mistake? do they refer to the daughter of CB's gf in Germany? is it possible that they make such mistakes in the official ruling?
moreover, his lawyers in this case are M. Franzikowski and F. S. Fülscher. It's the first time I hear of MF.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=ecli:ECLI:EU:C:2020:749
have been trying to find their spendings - since these are public offices, they should publicise them right?
ETA. Found it. p. 164 in Haushaltsplan - Niedersächsisches Justizministeriumhttps://www.mj.niedersachsen.de › download › Haus...
There is money budgeted for training and education of the employees of the StA amounting to 43,000 EUR for 2020, the same for 2021, while for 2019 it was 50,000.
However, such expenses could also fall under honoraria, part-time salaries, etc. In 2019 they spent 62,000 EUR, and they budgeted 31,000 EUR in 2020, and 33,000 EUR in 2021
Interestingly, for witness compensation, they spent 503,000 in 2019, and budgeted 325,000 in 2020, and 605,000 in 2021!
and they also had quite a steep rise in the costs for expert compensation from 2020 to 2021!
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tedtink
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trying to find who prosecutes CB, I stumbled upon the 2020 court ruling for the case of CB's rape sentence and the execution of the European arrest warrant.
It's beyond me to work it all out
XC was prosecuted in Germany in three separate sets of criminal proceedings relating to the offences of (i) trafficking in narcotic drugs, (ii) sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and (iii) aggravated rape in conjunction with extortion, also committed in Portugal.
First of all, on 6 October 2011, XC was convicted of trafficking in narcotic drugs by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll, Germany) and given a combined custodial sentence of one year and nine months. That sentence was suspended on probation.
Next, in 2016, criminal proceedings were instituted in Germany against XC for the offence of sexual abuse of a minor committed in Portugal and, on 23 August 2016, the Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Hanover, Germany) issued a European arrest warrant for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution in respect of that offence. After the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora, Portugal) authorised XC’s surrender to the German judicial authorities for that offence and XC did not renounce the specialty rule at that time, he was surrendered on 22 June 2017 to the Federal Republic of Germany by the Portuguese judicial authorities. He was sentenced to a custodial sentence of one year and three months and was imprisoned in that Member State.
While XC was serving the custodial sentence imposed on him for sexual abuse of a minor, the suspension on probation of the sentence imposed pursuant to the judgment delivered by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011 for trafficking in narcotic drugs was revoked. On 22 August 2018, the Staatsanwaltschaft Flensburg (Public Prosecutor’s Office, Flensburg, Germany) asked the Tribunal da Relação de Évora (Court of Appeal, Évora), as the judicial authority executing the European arrest warrant referred to in paragraph 11 above, to renounce the application of the specialty rule and to consent to the execution of the sentence imposed by the Amtsgericht Niebüll (Local Court, Niebüll) on 6 October 2011.
which one is that?? is that a mistake? do they refer to the daughter of CB's gf in Germany? is it possible that they make such mistakes in the official ruling?
moreover, his lawyers in this case are M. Franzikowski and F. S. Fülscher. It's the first time I hear of MF.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=ecli:ECLI:EU:C:2020:749
This is interesting thanks.
The timeline of his convictions were questioned at the very beginning of this thread.
This is part of SleuthD's timeline copied and pasted below.
G 2018. October. In jail in Kiel, northern Germany, serving 21 months for dealing drugs on the holiday island of Sylt.
(• The sentence, handed down in 2011, was initially suspended, but in 2016 he was convicted of sexual offences involving a child and the following year of grievous bodily harm and so was then obliged to serve the drug sentence.)
Or
G 2019 April. In jail in Kiel, northern Germany, serving 21 months etc etc [would tie in with parole dates][what was happening between October and April?]
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner: what happens next in the investigation? | News | The Sunday Times
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14 months from october 2018 (i.e. two thirds of the sentence) would be up in november 2019.
21 months from october 2018 (i.e. the full sentence) would be up in june 2020.
as he still seems to be applying for parole (two thirds of the sentence) the dates don't add up. so, is he serving another sentence on top of the drugs sentence? did he not go straight to prison in october 2018?
the other question is, why didn't he serve the 2011 suspended sentence when they had him in 2016?
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Anxala
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I'd say not. His naivety is writ large in his surprise at how some of (what he might see as) his relatively restrained comments have been taken for an outlandish and furious tabloid ride! A learning curve that he very likely is still trying to accommodate and come to terms with.
But he comes across as stoic and, although a bit jittery at times, likely to continue to weather the storm he and the BKA have created to its (from their perspective) conclusion.
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I think based on that we can answer the questions:
The drug sentence was not served initially (21 months) but he was put on probation.
When in 2016 they initiated criminal proceedings for the abuse of a minor, he was not found but was surrendered by the PJ in August 2017 to Germany executing the European arrest warrant, when he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He started serving the 15 month sentence, when in one year in august 2018 he possibly got out because he had served his sentence and then Germany asked Portugal's court since the latter had executed the European arrest warrant (for the sexual abuse charge) whether the warrant was valid because CB's probation on the drugs charge had ended and he could now start serving the 21 months of that suspended sentence.
So, it appears that in august 2018 CB walked out because they didn't manage to figure out the execution of the European arrest warrant on time. When they found him in Italy in September 2018 , he was extradited back to Germany to spend his drugs offences sentence.
My question though is why in such an official document is there mention of a sexual abuse charge as having been committed in 2016 in Portugal? Doesn't this refer to the young girl of Anja ? The messines playground abuse took place in 2017 when the PJ realised there was a European arrest warrant for him...and they extradited him
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Actually i think he has learned these past 18-20 months to say less. He seems to choose to which news media to talk to and it appears he has lately a preference for the local newspaper to which I think as a public servant and spokesperson for the whole prosecution office he needs to respond to. I also think his silence in the UK lately is more telling as i don't believe the DM or the Mirror have stopped asking him for comments. But from the budget of the prosecution office i haven't noticed any excessive spending in honoraria (consultancy) or further training!! Maybe he is learning by action...
Dlk79
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Yes, I'm 99% sure they've made a mistake in that declaration and that the sexual abuse charge is referring to his ex-girlfriend's daughter which took place in Braunschweig, not Portugal. Quite surprising they have made that error on such an important document though as you say. I can only assume there was some confusion from the judge due to the fact that when the original extradition hearing happened in 2017, CB was being held in Evora for another sexual offfence against children in Portugal (the playground incident). He still hasn't been charged with that yet though so it cannot be the 'proceedings' they brought against him in 2016 that is being referred to.
It may be that BKA did (later on) also request the playground offence to be added to the extradition warrant though and that is why there is some confusion? If they haven't already, I assume they will need to do so if they intend to charge him for it. Same with the HB case and the beach assault. That was the whole issue of CB's appeal against the DM rape, he tried claiming the trial was unlawful as it wasn't part of the 2017 extradition agreement from Portugal. BKA won that appeal as the Italian authorities had signed the DM charge off in their 2018 warrant instead.
The rest of your assesment about the timeline also seems pretty spot on to me. They basically had to let CB go temporarily in 2018 because the Portuguese authorities didn't complete the required paperwork in time to add the Sylt drug conviction to the extradition agreement.
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Dlk79
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My understanding of this apparent timeline discrepancy is this:
Shortly after CB went on trial for the abuse of his ex's daughter in April 2016, he did a bunk to Portugal. It's still not entirely clear how he managed to do this as you would have thought he'd have been held on remand. Anyway, somehow he managed to slip away before the official sentencing.
When he was then extradited back to Germany from Portugal in late 2017, he was ordered to serve the 15 month sentence for the abuse charge following the Braunschweig's High Court verdict made on October 7th 2017.
Then in August 2018, having served 10 months of the sentence, he was eligible to be released under the "two-thirds penalty" provision that Germany has. And because there was a *advertiser censored*-up (and then a delay) in adding the Sylt charge to the extradition warrant, the authorities had no choice but to let him leave prison on parole while they tried to sort it out.
CB then fled Germany and about 4 weeks later on September 27, 2018, CB was arrested in Milan and extradited back to Germany to serve out the 21-month Sylt sentence as should have happened originally.
As SleuthD pointed out though, if he began serving that sentence when it was ratified in October 2018, the dates of his appeal for release towards the end of 2020 didn't match up since he would have already completed the full 21 month sentence by that point.
What I think happened though is that when he was extradited back to Germany in 2018, he was ordered to serve out the remaining "third" of the abuse charge sentence as well, for breaching the terms of his parole by fleeing the country. So I think he served the remaining 5 months for that and then the 21 month sentence for the Sylt offence came into effect around March 2019.
If the court decides in favour of the prisoner within the framework of its prognosis, he has a right to release. However, he is not completely free then, the sentence is only suspended. This is, so to speak, a break from the prison system. He is under probation at least for the duration of the remaining sentence. He must show by law-loyal behavior that the decision to dismiss him early was correct. If he does not prove himself, the revocation of the probation is imminent and the remainder of the sentence must be “served”.
Will I be released from prison after two thirds of my sentence? - Criminal Law Germany
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Tekno
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Is there any particular reason for the delay?
I didn't ask him that and MWT didn't say. I sent him a tweet to ask when, his reply came the next day. Tweet him, ask same Q as I did and when he replies ask if there's any reason for the delay. He'll answer quickly.
I'm not being awkward, I just feel uncomfortable asking him more myself.
I'd love to ask him but I only have a professional twitter account... why don't we ask channel 5 instead?
Anxala
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I'm wondering will it actually air? I'm wondering if he was aware of the Sat1 doc when he was making his own doc? I know he's been dealing with personal issues which likely delayed things his end. He may not have bargained on Sat1's doc airing before his own.
Basically, I'm wondering if he's gotten cold feet and realised that his promise of shocking new alibi evidence doesn't really stack up? Reputation considerations...
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