Brazil prosecutors charge German diplomat for husband's death

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian state prosecutors on Monday pressed charges against a German diplomat accused of the murder of his Belgian husband and are investigating reports that he has left the country after a court released him from police custody.

Uwe Herbert Hahn, who worked at the German consulate in Rio de Janeiro, was indicted by the city prosecutors' office with aggravated murder, following the death of his husband, Walter Biot, earlier this month.

On Friday, a state court released Hahn from a preemptive arrest he had been on since Aug. 7, claiming that prosecutors missed the initial deadline to present charges.

According to Brazilian news portal G1, Hahn took a flight out of Brazil and arrived on Frankfurt, Germany, early on Monday. The prosecutors' office said it was still investigating whether the consul left the country.

The German consulate in Rio de Janeiro could not be reached for comment.

On a document, prosecutors said "the crime was committed with cruel means: severe beating to which the victim was subjected, causing intense and unnecessary suffering," the prosecutors said, adding that the victim was unable to react due to the ingestion of alcohol and anxiety medication.

The prosecutors said the accused "nurtured an abject feeling of possession for the victim, subjugating him financially and psychologically, and not admitting that the victim tried to establish some level of independence from the accused, either economically or by establishing friendship relations with other people."

At the time of Biot's death, Hahn said he had fallen from their apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood after suffering a sudden illness.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Richard Chang)