Christian Brueckner, suspect in Maddie McCann case, acquitted on unrelated rape, sex abuse charges in Germany

Braunschweig, Germany — A court in Germany has acquitted a man identified as the only suspect in the nearly two-decade-old unsolved disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann on a number of unrelated sexual offense charges, but Christian Brueckner will remain in a German prison for at least another year thanks to a previous conviction in another rape case.

Bruckner, a 47-year-old German national, has been described as a primary suspect in the British girl's 2007 disappearance from a beach resort in Portugal, and he remains under investigation by police in multiple countries in relation to that case. On Tuesday, however, a district court in Braunschweig acquitted him of sexual offense charges unrelated to McCann's disappearance - acts allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Brueckner had faced three rape charges and two counts of sexual abuse in the case ruled on Tuesday, in which prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison sentence as well as preventive detention after his term. A panel of three judges, led by Uta Engemann, ruled in favor of the defense, which had argued there was insufficient credible evidence to convict him on the charges.