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Soldier jailed in case of Freiburg mother who sold young son for sex

A south German court on Wednesday sentenced a soldier to eight years in prison for raping a young boy whose mother allowed him to be abused in exchange for money.

Published: 17 May 2018 09:10 CEST

Soldier jailed in case of Freiburg mother who sold young son for sex

Knut S. in court. Photo: DPA

The 50-year-old accused, identified as Knut S., is one of eight people charged with belonging to an online paedophile ring. He confessed to sexually abusing the boy, now aged nine, during his trial in the southwestern city of Freiburg earlier this month.

He also admitted to filming the abuse and said the boy's mother and her partner witnessed some of the acts.

The Bundeswehr soldier was found guilty of rape, producing child pornography and forced prostitution.

The Freiburg court had already handed a 10-year sentence to a 41-year-old man in the same case last month, described by local police as one of the worst cases of child sex abuse they have ever investigated.

Both men were also ordered to pay the victim 12,500 euros ($14,700) each in compensation.

Prosecutors allege that the boy's mother and her partner prostituted him to men over the internet over a two-year period, as well as abusing the boy themselves. Their trial is set to begin next month.

The case came to light following an anonymous tip last September, with the eight suspects arrested soon after.

The boy is in state care.

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Germany charges sixth suspect in health minister kidnap plot

The 61-year-old man was charged with “the preparation of a treasonous enterprise and membership in a terrorist organisation”, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement.

The group intended to strike several parts of the energy grid to provoke a “nationwide power outage lasting several weeks” that would provide cover for a coup attempt, investigators said.

The alleged plotters planned to abduct Health Minister Karl Lauterbach “at gunpoint”, potentially killing his bodyguards in the process.

During the coronavirus pandemic, some of the fiercest opponents of the government’s anti-virus measures were far-right activists who reject Germany’s democratic institutions.

Lauterbach had become a hate figure for the group because of the pandemic restrictions including the requirement to wear facemasks in public places that he had ordered.

“The kidnapping of a high-ranking federal government official was intended to demonstrate the group’s determination and capabilities,” prosecutors said.

The latest suspect was said to have “participated in meetings of the group and worked on the concretisation of the plans”.

The man allegedly declared himself ready to participate in the kidnapping of Lauterbach, prosecutors said.

He also offered his garage in the region south of Frankfurt to a group ringleaders as a weapons store, investigators said.

The senior plotter was arrested in April 2022 and the arms – two AK-47 assault rifles and four Glock pistols – were never deposited.

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The new suspect also offered to “sail” to Russia after the planned coup “as a member of a delegation to negotiate an ‘alliance’ with Russian state authorities and to procure military equipment”, prosecutors said.

Five other members of the group went on trial in Koblenz in May 2023.

The group intended to replace the government with an authoritarian system “modelled on the constitution of the German Empire of 1871”, according to investigators.

The belief that the German government is illegitimate is current among members of the far-right Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which has attracted a growing number of followers.

The organisers of another alleged far-right plot to topple the government were arrested in raids at the end of 2022.

The trial of the suspected ringleader, the aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, will open in Frankfurt in May.

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