Mother is said to have given the order Celebrity trial over abduction of the Block children

dpa

11.7.2025 - 21:31

Businesswoman Christina Block is said to have ordered the abduction of two of her children from Denmark to Germany. In the trial, her defence lawyers deny this - and criticize the father.

DPA

11.07.2025, 21:31

03.11.2025, 15:33

In room 237 of the Hamburg Criminal Justice Building - where terror trials are usually held - the years-long custody dispute surrounding Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block comes to a temporary climax. The 52-year-old is accused of ordering the abduction of her own children from the care of their father in Denmark. Her partner, former sports presenter Gerhard Delling (66), is said to have aided and abetted the abduction.

Both deny the allegations, as do the five other defendants. The defence lawyers criticize the investigative work of the public prosecutor's office.

The father takes copious notes

Block and her ex-husband, 51-year-old Stephan Hensel, the children's father and co-plaintiff, sit opposite each other just a few meters apart. Between them is Delling. Block in a blue blouse, Delling in a dark suit, open collar. Apart from the answers to the questions about themselves that the judge asks them at the beginning, Block and Delling leave the floor to their lawyers. Hensel is constantly taking notes while the defense lawyers speak.

The trial had been eagerly awaited. The abduction of the children on New Year's Eve 2023/2024 had already made the headlines. The first journalists were waiting outside the district court hours before the start.

37 trial dates until the end of the year

The auditorium of courtroom 237 is filled to capacity at the start of the trial - mainly with media representatives, with more than a hundred accredited. The room was chosen for the trial at the district court because of its size. There are 37 hearings scheduled until December 23. The trial will continue on Tuesday.

In their opening statements after the indictment was read out, Block's two lawyers painted a picture of their client as a desperate mother who had been unlawfully deprived of her children by Hensel and increasingly alienated from them. And yet: Block had never given an order to get her children back from their father, who lived in Denmark, said lawyer Otmar Kury.

Block's lawyers make accusations against the children's father

She is "not guilty" and not even "sufficiently suspicious." At the same time, Kury made serious accusations against Hensel, who had deprived the now eleven-year-old son and his three-year-old sister of contact with their mother and thus harmed them. Kury announced a comprehensive statement from Block.

As the daughter of the founder of the steak house chain of the same name, Eugen Block, his client is very prominent, so that the years-long custody dispute has been extensively reported in a "mudslide" of the tabloids, said the 52-year-old's second lawyer, Ingo Bott.

Due to the wealth attributed to the family, security companies had also approached the Blocks and offered their help. The lawyer expressed the suspicion that the abduction of the children could also have been an uncoordinated action. But then everything went so wrong that a claim for compensation was not even made, said Bott.

Children were dragged into a car in Denmark, according to the indictment

According to the indictment, the case went like this: On New Year's Eve 2023/24, several men ambushed Hensel and the two children in southern Denmark. The perpetrators beat up Hensel and dragged the children, then aged 10 and 13, into a car.

During the course of the alleged abduction, the children's mouths were sealed with adhesive tape and the daughter's hands were tied, according to the prosecution. The boy and the girl were first taken to Baden-Württemberg and later traveled to Hamburg with their mother.

Daughter and son live with their father in Denmark

Christina Block has been fighting for years for her daughter, born in 2010, and her son, born in 2013. Both children have been living with their father in Denmark since 2021.

According to the Hamburg public prosecutor's office, Hensel illegally kept them with him after a weekend visit in accordance with his right of access. The defense lawyers repeatedly pointed out that the mother had sole right of residence at the time of the abduction. "Here, the parent who is the victim of a child abduction" is accused of commissioning a child abduction, criticized Delling's defence lawyer David Rieks and described the charge as abstruse.

According to the indictment, Delling is said to have organized Block's meeting with the children in Baden-Württemberg and coordinated their return to Hamburg together with the children. He is also suspected of having made false statements to criminal investigators. Defense attorney Rieks rejected any guilt on the part of his client.

Accusation: Block had given the order

According to the indictment, Block is said to have given the order to kidnap the children together with a 63-year-old German. The charge is joint aggravated kidnapping of minors in conjunction with grievous bodily harm and deprivation of liberty. The mother is also accused of aggravated abuse of wards.

The Criminal Code stipulates a minimum sentence of one year for aggravated kidnapping of minors and aggravated ill-treatment of wards, with a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

Several suspected accomplices

A 35-year-old man, who claims to have Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, is said to have been directly involved in the kidnapping along with five other men. His defense lawyer announced that his client would make a full statement at a later date. The man has been in custody since November.

According to the public prosecutor's office, a 58-year-old German, as head of a Hamburg security company, was responsible for guarding Block's property in order to prevent the children from escaping. He has been charged with aiding and abetting the aggravated kidnapping of minors in conjunction with grievous bodily harm and deprivation of liberty. A woman (49) and a man (55) from Block's circle are facing the same charges.

A long history

The custody dispute between Block and her ex-husband also occupied the Federal Constitutional Court. The judges rejected an appeal by Block. The reasoning was that all four children had initially lived with their mother after the couple separated in 2014 and divorced in 2018. There had been a contact arrangement for visits with the father since 2015. In July 2021, the eldest daughter moved in with her father in agreement with the mother. Another daughter lives with the mother.

The two youngest children have been living with their father since August 2021. After a weekend visit, he announced that he would not bring them back because of the mother's "behavior that endangers the welfare of the child". Nothing is officially known about the exact allegations. In the fall of 2021, the Higher Regional Court provisionally granted the mother sole right of residence and ordered the father to hand over the children to the mother.

Danish court: German decision inadmissible

Denmark is the only EU country that does not automatically recognize decisions made by courts in other member states in custody disputes. At the end of 2021, a Danish district court declared the enforcement of the German decision inadmissible.

In 2022, Block filed an application in Denmark for the return of her children in accordance with the Danish Child Abduction Act. Subsequently, in February 2023, a court ruled that the children had been taken to Denmark unlawfully, but that they could not be returned.