Christina Block Trial: Defense Argues New Documents Clear Her in Child Abduction Case

<>

Defense Argues Secret Documents Clear Christina Block

Defense teams in the Hamburg trial presented detailed statements regarding a confidential document list, known as the Selbstleseliste, during the 72nd day of court hearings, according to reporting by welt.de. The proceedings center on an alleged cross-border custody extraction that took place in Denmark during the final hours of 2023. David Rieks, defense counsel for former sports television moderator Gerhard Delling, told the court that nothing within the hundreds of confidential files suggests his client knew about the planned operation. Delling faces accessory charges in the ongoing legal action.

Co-accused entrepreneur Christina Block, daughter of the founder behind the Block House steakhouse chain, maintains her innocence against allegations that she hired an Israeli security firm to retrieve her two younger children from their father’s residence in Denmark. Defense attorney Ingo Bott argued before the Hamburg court that the newly scrutinized records prove his client had no advance knowledge of the midnight action. Die Silvesteraktion trägt nicht die Handschrift von Frau Block (The New Year’s action does not bear the handwriting of Mrs. Block), Bott stated, as reported by welt.de, adding that she would have intervened immediately had she known what the perpetrators intended to do.

Disputed Calendar Entries and Five-Year Custody Conflict

The legal defense also challenged specific evidence submitted by investigators during the court sessions. Attorney Ingo Bott addressed calendar entries provided by a man identified as the suspected leader of the kidnapping group, which allegedly documented meetings arranged with Block. Bott asserted that multiple dates were simply claimed after the fact by the witness, according to welt.de reporting. Christina Block is scheduled to address the courtroom herself later in the week.

The current trial represents the latest chapter in a bitter custody dispute that began over five years ago. The father of the children, Stephan Hensel, did not return his son, then 10 years old, and his daughter, then 13 years old, to their mother in Hamburg following a weekend visit in late August 2021, as detailed by welt.de. That incident triggered mutual accusations and protracted legal battles over custody rights across international borders.

Trial Scope and Admissions Among Seven Defendants

The formal judicial inquiry opened in July 2025 and involves a total of seven co-defendants facing various charges related to the incident in Denmark. Out of the seven individuals standing trial in Hamburg, only one 37-year-old defendant from Israel has admitted to the allegations, according to welt.de coverage of the case. The court reviews the secret document volumes and hears further defense arguments.