Brazilian police said Saturday that they detained a German ambassador for allegedly murdering his spouse at their house in an upmarket Rio de Janeiro area and then tried to cover it up.
According to police, Uwe Herbert Hahn, a German consul, informed investigators that his spouse, Belgian citizen Walter Henri Maximilien Biot, became unwell Friday night before falling and tragically striking his skull.
However, an examination of the corpse and the couple’s flat in the seaside suburb of Ipanema revealed that Biot had been badly beaten, according to the police.
“The consul’s version of events, that the victim fell, is contradictory with the forensics report results,” officer Camila Lourenco said in remarks uploaded on social media by Rio de Janeiro’s 14th police station.
“It discovered several bruises, notably on the chest, consistent with stomping injuries, as well as lesions consistent with a cylindrical tool assault,” she continued.
“The cadaver is crying forth the details of its demise.”
The precinct’s Instagram feed shared images of what looked to be blood stains on the couple’s apartment’s floor and furnishings.
According to Brazilian media sources, Hahn would not be granted diplomatic immunity due to the nature of the offense. A request for comment from police was not immediately returned.
According to local media sources, Hahn, who had been married to Biot for 20 years, attempted to clean up the scene of death before police came, then informed detectives that his spouse had been drinking heavily and using sleeping pills.
According to a photograph of his ID card released in the Brazilian news, Biot was a week shy of his 53rd birthday.
The German embassy did not react promptly to a request for details.
However, according to a source in the German federal foreign office, both the embassy and the consulate in Rio de Janeiro are in “close touch with the Brazilian authorities investigating this matter.”