Portuguese authorities name Christian Brueckner as a suspect in Madeleine McCann case

Christian Brueckner named by Portuguese authorities as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Christian Brueckner, the convicted sex offender currently serving time in a German prison, has finally been named as an official suspect by Portuguese police in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Prosecutors in Germany have been convinced for some time that he is the chief suspect.

Hans Christian Wolters, the chief prosecutor in Germany, identified 44-year-old Brueckner as the main suspect, but he has yet to be charged with the crime. Madeleine disappeared in 2007 from a holiday complex in the town of Praia da Luz, on Portugal’s Algarve.

Despite the disappearance taking place in Portugal, the police had never named an official suspect, until now. This week, Brueckner has been declared an ‘arguido’ by Portuguese investigators. It is a police status which means even though he has not been arrested or charged, he is considered to be much more than a witness.

The Portimao section of the Faro Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP), issued a statement that read, ‘As part of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007, a person was made an arguido on Wednesday’.

‘The person was made an arguido by the German authorities in execution of a request for international judicial cooperation issued by the Public Ministry of Portugal. The investigation is led by the Portimao section of the DIAP in Faro, with the assistance of the Policia Judiciaria police. The investigation has been carried out with the cooperation of the English and German authorities’.

In July 2020, Rogerio Alves, the lawyer for the McCann family, warned that there were less than two years remaining under Portugal’s 15-year limit in which to prosecute any suspect.

‘The step taken by the Portuguese authorities should not be overrated”, Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher said, according to The Mirror. ‘Without knowing the Portuguese legal situation in detail, I assume that this measure is a procedural artifice to stop the statute of limitations threatening in a few days’, he added, as reported by metro.co.uk.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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