The man suspected of murdering Madeleine McCann has lost the latest battle in an appeal to overturn a conviction for rape.
German investigators believe Christian Brueckner, 43, killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
He is currently serving a prison sentence in Germany for drug trafficking and is appealing against a conviction for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same Portuguese resort, for which he was sentenced to seven years in jail.
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The German court sent the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), in Luxembourg, to decide on a point of law relating to his extradition to Germany from Portugal and later Italy.
According to court documents, in which Brueckner is referred to as XC, he was extradited from Portugal for sexually abusing a minor in June 2017, then travelled to the Netherlands and Italy whilst still on probation after his release.
He was extradited to Germany from Italy in October 2018 on a warrant for drug trafficking before being tried and convicted of rape and extortion in December last year.
The ECJ case centred on whether the German authorities needed Portugal’s consent to bring rape proceedings because of the 2017 extradition.
Italy had agreed Brueckner could be tried for rape and extortion in Germany.
ECJ judges ruled on Thursday that only the permission of the Italian authorities was needed for the Germans to carry out their proceedings legally.
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The decision is final and cannot be appealed but the case will now be returned to the German court to finally decide on Brueckner’s appeal, which he is likely to lose in light of Thursday’s ruling.
He is serving his sentence for drug trafficking until early next year and will be in custody until 2027 if he loses the appeal against the rape conviction.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the Madeleine McCann investigation, has previously said investigators have “concrete evidence”, but not “forensic evidence”, that he killed her.
The Metropolitan Police maintain their active investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, Operation Grange, is a missing person inquiry as there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.
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