German doctor charged with 130 counts of sexual abuse

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A paediatrician in Germany has been charged with 130 cases of rape and other forms of sexual abuse targeting children, prosecutors said Wednesday.

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The unidentified suspect who worked in clinics in Brandenburg state near Berlin allegedly committed the crimes over 12 years, they said in a statement, without specifying how many children were abused.

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“The accused is charged with 130 counts of sexual offences” while employed by the healthcare provider Havelland Kliniken, said the Potsdam public prosecutor’s office.

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“These include, among other things, allegations of aggravated sexual abuse of children and rape.”

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The offences are alleged to have occurred between December 1, 2013 and November 5 of last year.

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The prosecutors said “the accused is alleged to have committed a large number of the offences while performing his professional duties” at clinics in Rathenow and Nauen, two towns in Brandenburg.

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They said the charges made public on Wednesday had been laid on May 6.

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The accused remains in pretrial detention, said the prosecutors, with the case handed over to the regional court in the Brandenburg state capital Potsdam.

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Bild daily said the paediatrician, now aged 46, had been arrested in November 2025 after the mother of a female patient in the Rathenow hospital alerted police.

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Investigators had then also seized numerous data storage devices.

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The alleged offences recall the case in France of a convicted paedophile who practised as a surgeon for years while repeatedly abusing children in his care.

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A French court in May 2025 sentenced retired doctor Joel Le Scouarnec to 20 years in prison after he confessed to sexually abusing or raping 298 patients between 1989 and 2014.

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Of those, more than 250 victims were under 15.

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AFP

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