Safety · Hamburg
Hamburg court extends Christina Block kidnapping trial to February 2027
The Hamburg Regional Court has added 15 hearing days through 24 February 2027, pushing the verdict into next year. Christina Block, 53, denies commissioning the abduction of her two youngest children.
AI text based on reports by DIE WELT, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, stern.de and other publishers. Published . How it is made
For membersThe first 30 seconds for everyone. Synthetic voice (AI).
In brief
The court added 15 hearing days running through 24 February 2027, after its earlier plan ended on 18 December. The trial has already held 84 hearing days since it opened in July 2025.
Christina Block, 53, is charged with commissioning an Israeli security firm to abduct her two youngest children from Denmark. She denies it, and her partner Gerhard Delling also denies wrongdoing among six other defendants.
860 pages of motions arrived before the 28 October deadline, 840 of them from lawyer Ingo Bott. Bott says phone geodata shows Block could not have been at the Hotel Grand Elysée on 28 or 29 December 2023.
The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court must decide whether part of seized recordings of a Zeit interview with the abducted daughter can be used as evidence.
- 6 NovNext hearing day
- 18 DecEnd of the previously planned trial days
- 24 FebLast of the 15 newly scheduled hearing days
Hearing days stretch into 2027
The Hamburg Regional Court (Landgericht Hamburg) announced on Tuesday, 3 November, that it has scheduled 15 more hearing days running until 24 February 2027. Until now, the chamber had planned trial days only up to 18 December. The trial opened in July 2025 and has already run 84 hearing days, and according to Spiegel Online the verdict is now expected next year. Stern calculates that the case could last roughly three times as long as originally planned. The next hearing day is set for 6 November.
Charges against Block and the other defendants
Christina Block, 53, a Hamburg businesswoman from a steakhouse family, is charged with commissioning an Israeli security firm to abduct her two youngest children from their father's home in southern Denmark and bring them to Germany. She denies the charge. Stern reports that eight masked men took the children during the New Year's Eve night into 2024 and brought them to Hamburg, after the father had kept them following a visit weekend despite being obliged to hand them back. Six other defendants are on trial, including her partner Gerhard Delling, a former sports presenter, who also denies doing anything wrong and is charged with aiding the offence. The father, Stephan Hensel, is also charged, though stern notes it is not certain his case will reach trial.
Defence motions and the phone data dispute
Shortly before a deadline set for 28 October, 860 pages of motions reached the Hamburg court, and the presiding judge said 840 of those pages came from Block's lawyer, Ingo Bott. According to NDR, Bott's new motions comprise more than 20 applications covering 840 pages, several hundred of them tabular geodata from Block's phone. Bott says that data shows Block could not have been at the Hotel Grand Elysée at the time of an alleged meeting with the suspected abductors on 28 or 29 December 2023. The prosecution accused the defence of stalling the trial. Bott rejected that as absurd, arguing that the motions are essential to establishing the truth because they show much that exonerates his client.
- Total motions received
- 860 pages
- Motions from lawyer Ingo Bott
- 840 pages
Data from the article text
Zeit recordings and a Danish maintenance ruling
A separate question remains open over seized audio recordings of a Zeit interview with the abducted daughter, conducted shortly after the crime with Block's ex-husband Stephan Hensel and the children. The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court (Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht) must decide whether part of those recordings can be used as evidence. If it allows their use, further hearing days would follow. Meanwhile, a Danish court ruled that Block must pay maintenance to the three children living with their father in Denmark, though far less than he had demanded. Stern also reports that former BND chief August Hanning, whose name has surfaced in the case, faces allegations including attempted treason and espionage.
Ask about this text
Sources and context
- DIE WELTHamburg trial: Proceedings against Christina Block extended againHamburger Prozess: Verfahren gegen Christina Block geht erneut in die Verlängerung · original in German
- Norddeutscher RundfunkBlock trial lasts at least until the end of February - audio recordings and new turns before the verdictBlock-Prozess dauert mindestens bis Ende Februar - Tonaufnahmen und neue Wendungen vor dem Urteil · original in German
- stern.deChristina Block in court: The endless trial?Christina Block vor Gericht: Der unendliche Prozess? · original in German
- Spiegel OnlineChristina Block: Trial in Hamburg extended until February 2027Christina Block: Prozess in Hamburg bis Februar 2027 verlängert · original in German
- Gerhard Delling
- Former sports presenter and Block's partner, charged with aiding the offence and denying wrongdoing
Pollar is free and carries no ads in the text. Its members keep it going.
Support Pollar