The Rio police took Hahn into custody on Saturday after his husband, Walter Henri Maximilien Biot, 52, was found dead in an apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood. On Sunday, a video showed Hahn being escorted by Brazilian police outside a police station in Rio.
The judge Rafael de Almeida Rezende cited alleged attempts to tamper with evidence as one of the factors in his decision to keep the diplomat in custody.
The decision obtained by CNN shows that the apartment was was cleaned before the forensics team carried out its examination, a fact that by itself shows that the release of the suspect in custody could lead to serious encumbrances to the collection of evidence. The judge's order describes the crime scene and states several lesions on the victim's body originating from blunt force trauma, with one of the lesions compatible with a foot stomp and the other with the deployment of a cylindrical instrument supposedly a wooden club. The judge's ruling also states that forensics detected blood splatter on the property, markedly in the couple's bedroom and the bathroom, compatible with the dynamics of a violent death. Hahn's defense argued before the court that the diplomat is entitled to diplomatic immunity and a writ of habeas corpus, according to CNN Brasil. Habeas corpus is a legal principle that allows people who believe they are being held unlawfully in prison or detention to challenge it, and successful challenges can lead to a detainee's release. The judge ruled that an arrest due to an intentional crime against life is not related to consular duties, because the couple's apartment is so outside the consular environment. According to Reuters, Hahn told police that Biot died after suffering a sudden illness and fell from her apartment. CNN reached out to Hahn's lawyers, but they were not available for comment. German Foreign Office sources also confirmed to CNN the arrest of an employee posted to the Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro. Foreign office sources said that due to the ongoing investigations and for personal privacy reasons, our Embassy in Brasilia and the Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro are in close contact with the Brazilian authorities investigating this case.