Christian B., the main suspect in the case of Maddie McCann, who has been missing since 2007, is expected to appear in court in Braunschweig.
The court will remain responsible for the indictment against Christian B., who is also suspected of serious rape and sexual abuse.
The Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig announced on Tuesday that the court had wrongly declared itself incompetent and must decide on the opening of the proceedings.
The decision of the lower court was overturned, and a suspended arrest warrant was reinstated.
The Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office had charged the 46-year-old in October 2022 with three cases of serious rape and two cases of sexual abuse of children.
The court in the Lower Saxony city had declared in April that it was not responsible because the last German residence of the accused was outside its jurisdiction. The alleged crimes are said to have been committed between the end of December 2000 and June 2017 in Portugal, where Madeleine McCann disappeared from an apartment complex in May 2007.
The man is also suspected of murder in the Maddie case. The jurisdiction in Braunschweig arises from the fact that the accused had his last residence in Braunschweig before his stay abroad, the public prosecutor's office stated in its indictment in October 2022.
The last domestic residence of the accused is to be seen in Braunschweig based on a variety of different indications and evidence, especially earlier statements of the accused, the Higher Regional Court now stated as the reason. There are no sufficient indications for a residence in Saxony-Anhalt.
