A screen grab from a video shows Brazilian police officers escorting Uwe Herbert Hahn, German consul in Rio de Janeiro, following his arrest for the alleged murder of his husband, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 7, 2022. Reuters TV via REUTERS
RIO DE JANEIRO 鈥� A Brazilian court on Friday freed a German diplomat arrested earlier this month in connection with the death of his Belgian husband, letting him face the homicide investigation in freedom.
Uwe Herbert Hahn had been on preemptive arrest in Rio de Janeiro since Aug. 7 following the death of his husband, Walter Biot. Prosecutors have yet to indict him.
His release, confirmed by Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 state department of prisons, came after Judge Rosa Helena Guita ruled that prosecutors missed the initial deadline to present charges.
In her Aug. 25 decision, Guita cited a clear 鈥渆xcess of time limit for a criminal action to be filed, noting that 鈥渘o charges had been filed so far, nine days after the 10-day legal deadline expired.鈥�
The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor鈥檚 office said in a statement to Reuters that it had not yet been summoned to file charges.
鈥淭he deadline for offering the charges has not even started,鈥� the statement said.
At the time of Biot鈥檚 death, Hahn said he had fallen from their apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood after suffering a sudden illness.
Police arrested Hahn on suspicion of murder after their forensics found bloodstains in the apartment and the autopsy of Biot鈥檚 body showed multiple wounds, leading them to consider the case a 鈥渧iolent death.鈥�
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