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.
Brazilian 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 is being cleaned before the forensics team conducts its examination, which 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 said 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 to 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. An arrest due to an intentional crime against life, committed inside the couple's apartment so outside of the consular environment has no relation to consular duties, according to the judge. In a video released to CNN Brasil, Hahn told police chief Camila Loureno that Biot had shown signs of panicking, acting nervously or strange in the days leading up to his death. The video taped police interview said that the couple were sitting on the sofa when Biot suddenly stood up and ran toward the balcony before falling face down on the floor. He tells the chief that he thinks his husband slipped. He said it was very fast as he walks around the apartment the couple shared. Hahn said he initially thought Biot was drunk and sent a picture of his husband to a friend, along with the message, Walter is drunk again. Hahn said he tried to pick Biot up to take him to bed when he noticed his husband was bleeding. CNN reached out to Hahn's lawyers, but they were not available for comment. German Foreign Office sources have also confirmed to CNN that an employee has been arrested at 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 Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro are in close contact with the Brazilian authorities investigating this case.