Block's lawyer submits more than 800 pages of new evidence applications

In the trial surrounding the kidnapping of the Block children, the defense attorneys submitted numerous new applications for evidence. 860 pages of applications were received by the Hamburg Regional Court on Wednesday night, said presiding judge Isabel Hildebrandt. 840 pages alone came from the lawyer Ingo Bott, who defends the children's mother, Christina Block. The criminal chamber had set a deadline for further written applications for evidence until October 28th.

The Hamburg entrepreneur Christina Block (53) is accused of having commissioned an Israeli security company to kidnap her two youngest children from their father's home in southern Denmark to Germany following a custody dispute. She denies this. There are six other defendants, including Block's partner Gerhard Delling. The former sports presenter also denies doing anything wrong.

Because the new motions for evidence are to be given to those involved in the trial to read outside of the main hearing, the judge interrupted the trial for a two-hour break to prepare a list of the motions.

Dispute over audio recordings not discussed

The complaint procedure regarding the seizure of sound recordings from a “Zeit” journalist was not discussed. At the end of September, a podcast entitled “Time Crime: House of Block” was published. It contained recordings of conversations that a journalist said she had with the father's family two weeks after Christina Block's two children were kidnapped from Denmark.

In addition to Block's ex-husband Stephan Hensel and his new wife Astrid Have, Block's then 13-year-old daughter and Block and Hensel's eldest daughter, who lives with her father with her mother's consent, also have their say.

Seizure partly illegal

In response to complaints from “Zeit” and the journalist, the court changed its decision. It limited the seizure to the audio recordings of the conversations that took place on January 15 and 16, 2024 with Hensel, Have and the kidnapped daughter. Christina Block had to return the two children to their father by court order on January 5, 2024.

The chamber declared the seizure of statements from Block and Hensel's eldest daughter to be unlawful, as a court spokeswoman announced on Tuesday.

The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court will decide whether the remaining recordings can now be used as evidence in the trial. If the complaints are rejected, the process could be extended. So far, the chamber has scheduled 15 more days of negotiations until December 18th.