In the case of the children kidnapped by an anti-vaccination couple in Paraguay, there is a happy ending. Now, according to information from FOCUS Online, the couple has turned themselves in and handed over the two children from their first marriage to the authorities.
Anne Reiniger and Filip Blank lived between hope and fear for a good six months. The two parents had sent appeals via the media and social networks. Desperate calls for help to convince her former spouses to return to Germany from Paraguay together with their kidnapped daughters Clara, 10, and Lara, 11. And now today at noon South American local time, the Egler couple, who kidnapped their daughters in November 2021, turned themselves in to the authorities in Paraguay.
As the lawyers for Anne Reiniger and Filip Blank announced, the children were taken into the care of the authorities. The students were handed over to the “Ministerio de la Defensa Pueblica”, which is responsible for child psychological issues. “They are well looked after there,” report the responsible Düsseldorf lawyer Ingo Bott and his colleague Stephan Schultheiss.
The lawyer expects that the children and the Eglers will be transferred to Germany after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings in Paraguay. “Mr. and Mrs. Egler have confirmed their willingness to leave for Germany, where they also want to actively face the German proceedings.”
In Germany, the Eglers are still threatened with remand, their defense attorney Joachim Baumann explained: “Our clients face the danger of being arrested in Paraguay or Germany.” The arrest warrant will be checked in Germany, the defense attorney explains. But the lawyer also makes it clear: “Anyone who surrenders voluntarily, there is no risk of absconding.” Without this circumstance, “an arrest warrant must be canceled or at least suspended.”
This is the end of a true family drama. The ex-partners from their first marriages had turned on the Essen public prosecutor’s office after the kidnapping, and the colleagues in Paraguay had also launched a public search for the unconventional couple Andreas Egler and his wife Anna on the basis of an international arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, the lawyers Ingo Bott from Düsseldorf and his colleague Stephan Schultheiss in Paraguay were trying to get in touch with the fugitive corona vaccination opponents in order to bring the family drama to a good end for everyone involved. The virus deniers said they had fled to South America to “protect” the children from the tightened corona measures planned last fall.
On Wednesday evening, lawyer Bott was already confident in an interview with FOCUS Online: “I think we’ll get out of this well.” The fugitive parents had announced that they would go to the authorities with their daughters from their first relationship, accompanied by a lawyer place.
After the Eglers contacted the lawyers of their ex-partners in Essen and Munich via the messenger service “Threema” last weekend, the negotiations went in a positive direction. Anne Reiniger and Filip Blank were allowed to talk to the children in the days that followed. For almost 20 hours, those involved discussed the question of how the delicate matter could turn out to be good for everyone.
The case poses a number of legal problems. On the one hand, there is the question of how the South American authorities would react if the Eglers gave up? Normally, the parents would have to be arrested and handed over to the German judiciary. The children are also initially placed in the care of the authorities. With the help of the competent judicial authorities in Paraguay, the German embassy and the children’s rights organization CDIA, the lawyers are still exploring the procedure for children and parents.
“We are looking for a solution that protects the rights of all parties and, above all, takes the interests of the children into account,” the lawyers said in writing. Everyone involved was interested in finding a constructive and good solution that would give the children a life ended at short notice while fleeing,” emphasized Bott. Work is underway to “find a meaningful way back to Germany, where the children are heard and official decisions are made”.
A lot depends on the judiciary in Essen. The public prosecutor’s office in the Ruhr metropolis is still investigating the criminal complaint brought by the mother Anne Reiniger, who was left behind, for child abduction. The criminal law allows two ways. Since this is an alleged crime, the prosecution could drop the case and have the arrest warrants lifted. For this step, the mother Anne Reiniger would have to withdraw her ad. An act that apparently seems to be an agreed upon thing between the parents. However, there is an obstacle. “If the public prosecutor’s office affirms a public interest in the case, the investigation will continue,” said Essen authorities spokeswoman Anette Milk FOCUS Online. “But this is not a question for us at the moment.” In plain language, this means that we first want to wait and see how things develop further.
It is just as uncertain when it comes to custody. If the children and all their parents return home safely, the youth welfare office will certainly deal with the cause.
In November 2021, Andreas Egler, 45, and his new wife Anna took the girls on their odyssey to South America. In a farewell letter, the corona deniers justified their step by saying that the ripcord had to be pulled. There was talk of a “surveillance state” in which “human experiments” threatened.
A dramatic escape from the prosecutors took its course.
