MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

German consul in Rio arrested over husband's murder

Hahn's statements were inconsistent with forensics findings

Germany's Consul in Rio de Janeiro Uwe Herbert Hahn has been arrested over the death of his Belgian husband of 23 years, who fell from his Ipanema apartment after suffering a sudden illness, it was reported.

The 52-year-old Belgian national Walter Henri Maximilien Biot suffered multiple wounds, according to a post-mortem report, casting doubts on Hahn's allegations that his husband just fell. “It was a violent death,” police investigator Camila Lourenço told reporters.

“The circumstances of the death are obvious. We perceive that it was a violent death from the traces of injuries in different parts of the body,” she added.

Hahn called emergency services Friday night claiming his partner had suffered a fall in the apartment where they lived in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Ipanema.

Rio Civil Police arrested Hahn Saturday in flagrante delicto after it was concluded that his version of the events was inconsistent with forensics reports.

“The decision was based on the technical expertise since the version presented by the consul that the victim tripped and fell is contrary to the conclusions of the expert's report, which identified several injuries, including on the thorax, compatible with stomping and aggression with a cylindrical instrument,” Lourenço explained.

“That is why we decreed his arrest in flagrante delicto for the practice of homicide. The body shows the circumstances of death. There are several [pieces of] evidence that lead us to conclude for sure that there was a violent death,” she added.

Fire Department responders arrived at the apartment and found Biot was already dead, after which they called the police despite the German diplomat's insistence that it should be ruled a sudden death.

According to investigators, in addition to the head, the victim had at least 30 injuries on his legs, neck, buttocks, and trunk. Forensic experts concluded that the cause of death was cranial trauma to the back of the head.

“Some of the injuries are not recent. They are at least two days old, which shows that the victim had been suffering some kind of aggression,” reporters were told.

The German consul was informed of his arrest while giving testimony at a Civil Police Station, from where he was transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for corpus delicti examinations.

It also remained to be determined whether Hahn has diplomatic immunity.