The previous German consul in Rio de Janeiro, Uwe Herbert Hahn, accused of killing his husband in Rio de Janeiro, fled Brazil for his home country last Sunday and is now in Germany.
The alleged crime occurred on Aug. 5, but after being detained for days, the suspect obtained a writ of habeas corpus and took the opportunity to flee to Frankfurt, Germany, quickly.
On Tuesday, the Rio de Janeiro judiciary asked the Federal Police to add his name to the Interpol fugitives list.
The crime occurred under strange circumstances in the apartment in the upscale Ipanema district that the 60-year-old German consul shared with Belgian Walter Henri Maximilien Biot, 52, his partner for over two decades.
The German diplomat was arrested after his version of his husband’s death did not match evidence gathered by forensic experts.
In his version, the consul stated that his husband suffered a sudden malaise while cooking and suddenly fell to the ground, hitting his head.
However, the autopsy revealed something quite different: more than 30 injuries all over the body, especially one to the head and others to the buttocks.
There was also evidence that the consul had smeared the blood around the house to ensure no evidence was left behind.
In addition, there were messages from the victim to his relatives saying that life with his partner was “hell.”
For the police, there was no doubt about the violent death.
“The body cries out about the circumstances of his death,” said police chief Camila Lourenço, justifying the first request to detain the consul.
The suspect was immediately taken into custody, but from then on began the legal fight that led to his escape.
After waiting several days for the prosecution to file a formal complaint against the consul, a judge decided to release him due to “excessive time limits” and ordered no restrictive measures.
His passport could have been withheld, or he could have been placed on an electronic ankle bracelet.
Thanks to the judge, Hahn was released on August 26, and two days later, he was on a plane to Frankfurt.
The same day he landed in the German city, the prosecution filed the long-awaited lawsuit, which the courts immediately accepted, but it was too late.
Now the two parties are blaming each other: the judge who released him blames the slowness of the prosecutor’s office, while the prosecutor’s office claims it met the legal deadlines.
Reports from Germany say that the consul is now threatening witnesses who testified during the investigation.
According to the newspaper O Globo, the diplomat called a friend of the victim and sent him messages via WhatsApp to make him retract his version that he had been aggressive and mistreated his partner.
He threatened to tell Brazilian authorities that he was a drug trafficker.
“I’m safe now; you’re not. And you know how the police are; they will be happy to know the truth about you,” reads one of the messages sent by the consul.
In the statement of claim, the promoter Bianca Chagas de Macêdo warns – belatedly – that the diplomat had sufficient financial means to flee and that he could also pressure witnesses.
“It is on record that the defendant believes he has extensive powers and immunity because of his position as German consul.”
This privilege is particularly notorious in a country where thousands of people (primarily young, poorly educated black men) can spend years in prison despite having no criminal record.
According to official data from the National Judicial Council, there are currently 919,000 prisoners in Brazil, 45% of whom are in pre-trial detention.
This anomaly has been repeatedly criticized by public security and human rights experts.
The German consul managed to circumvent the statistics.
With information from El Pais