Trial of German steakhouse heiress that sparked a huge spy scandal

ByBethany Bell Germany reporter.

Key points

• As the two children and their father were watching a firework display, according to the indictment, the abduction took place during the New Year celebrations of 2023-24.
• There was enormous media interest in Germany when Christina Block and six others went on trial in a high-security courtroom in Hamburg in July last year.
• In 2021, the two youngest children went to visit their father in Denmark, but then were not brought back to Hamburg as agreed.
• In May 2023, Hensel was charged with the abduction of minors, in a case which is still pending.
• They say the operation was carried out by a 36-year-old Israeli citizen named only as Jonathan G and five others.

It is a trial that has gripped Germany, with a wealthy heiress in the dock for months and a case that triggered the country's biggest espionage scandal in recent history.

After a bitter custody battle with her former husband, christina Block, heir to a popular chain of steakhouses, is accused of ordering an Israeli security firm to carry out the violent abduction of her children from Denmark.

There are allegedly connections with at least two former secret agents, from Germany and Israel.

In the latest twist, investigators in the case stumbled throughout evidence that has led to Germany's former intelligence chief, August Hanning, being arrested this month for treason and espionage.

Hanning's arrest stunned the intelligence community. Although his case has nothing to do with the Hamburg trial, he has denied allegations of involvement in an earlier attempted abduction of the children.

Block House restaurants, specialising in steak and baked potatoes, are a feature of plenty of German towns. Their success over the past half century has supported produce Christina Block's father Eugen a multimillionaire.

Prosecutors allege that she and a family lawyer, Andreas Costard, organised the forcible abduction of two of her children. This person were staying with her former husband, Stephan Hensel, at his home in Denmark.

Prosecutors say a number of men ambushed and beat up Stephan Hensel, and dragged the boy and the girl, then 10 and 13 years old, into a car.

On the approach to the border with Germany, they are alleged to have changed vehicles, taped up the children's mouths and tied the girl's hands.

In practice, the group are then remarked to have travelled on to Baden-Württemberg in a campervan. Prosecutors say the children were held there against their will until their mother arrived to pick them up on 2 January 2024 and took them to her home in Hamburg.

Christina Block, Andreas Costard and Jonathan G are charged with the abduction of minors, grievous bodily harm and unlawful detention.

Block's partner, a former TV sports presenter called Gerhard Delling, and three others are charged with aiding and abetting.

All of them deny wrongdoing, except for Jonathan G. This person has admitted his involvement. Nevertheless, he informed the court he thought he was taking part in a rescue operation.

Meanwhile, the trial comes after years of legal battles between Christina Block and her former husband, Stephan Hensel, over who had the right to look after the children.

Immediately after their separation, all four children lived with their mother in Hamburg. Hensel, who remarried, afterwards moved to Denmark, where they regularly visited him.

In practice, a court in Hamburg ruled that Christina had custody and that the children should be returned. Although the boy and the girl had been brought to Denmark unlawfully, they could not be taken back, nevertheless, in February 2023, a Danish court ruled that.

He has accused Christina of being violent with the children, charges she denies. She informed the court Hensel wanted to take revenge on her.

She additionally denied knowing anything concerning intends for the abduction of the children from Denmark. Her defence argues that the Israeli security team had acted on its own initiative.

She informed the court it was "a catastrophe" and that she had never wanted anything like that.

In practice, the head of the Israeli security team, David Barkay. This person is not on trial but faces future legal proceedings, informed the court that Christina Block and Costard had known concerning the planned repatriation operation.

Barkay, who was described by another witness as a former agent with Mossad, the Israeli secret service, remarked he had not shared all the details as he "didn't trust them."

In practice, the alleged connection with Germany's former spy chief, August Hanning, relates to accusations of an earlier attempt to abduct the children and bring them back from Denmark in 2022.

Prosecutors have remarked Hanning was responsible for arranging security staff sent to Denmark with Christina Block. His lawyer denies the accusations. Hanning has not been charged over the current Block court case.

While investigators were searching his home, they came throughout evidence to suggest Hanning was involved in buying some 2, 000 documents from his former chief of staff and then passing on state secrets to foreign powers, nevertheless.

Which foreign power and who he is alleged to have given the secrets to is unspecified, but it has prompted widespread speculation.

Now 80, Hanning is in custody charged with treasonous espionage. His lawyer notes he is being "unjustly persecuted" and that the charges are "unfounded".

Meanwhile the trial against Christina Block is at present on hold for two weeks – one of numerous delays and extensions over the course of the past 15 months.

For context, the latest delay is since a witness, Stephan Hensel's new wife, failed to appear in court.

For now, trial of German steakhouse heiress that sparked a huge spy scandal remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.