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German paediatrician faces 130 child rape, abuse charges involving patients
Prosecutors say the suspect allegedly committed the offences while working at clinics in Brandenburg state between 2013 and 2025.
German paediatrician faces 130 child rape, abuse charges involving patients
The 46-year-old paediatrician remains in detention after being accused him of aggravated sexual abuse and rape involving children. (Symbolic image) / Reuters Archive

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

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

"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.

"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 last year.

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.

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

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

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.

Investigators had then also seized numerous data storage devices.

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.

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.

Of those, more than 250 victims were under 15.

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SOURCE:AFP