Main suspect in Madeleine McCann case released in Germany

The main suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann in Portugal, Christian Brückner, was released from prison in Germany on Wednesday after serving a sentence for rape in another case. The information was confirmed by an AFP reporter.

Christian Brückner, 48, served a seven-year sentence in Sehnde prison in northern Germany for rape, but has not been charged in the McCann case due to a lack of evidence, prosecutors said.

Brückner left in his lawyer's vehicle, accompanied by two police vans, watched by a large group of media who had waited outside the prison.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig accused him of being behind the disappearance of Maddie, one of the most widely covered disappearance cases by media around the world and which aroused great interest for years.

However, the lack of hard evidence prevented German authorities from pressing charges against Brückner, who denies the allegations.

German prosecutor Christian Wolters, who was unable to prevent this release due to a lack of evidence to support a charge, expressed concern, in a recent interview with AFP, over the release of an "inherently dangerous" individual.

This situation led to Brückner's release from prison on Wednesday, after completing his sentence for raping a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in the Algarve region of Portugal, where Maddie went missing.

Madeleine, then three years old, disappeared from her family's vacation apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007, while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.

Despite a huge international search and multiple leads that later went cold, no trace of her has been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.