On New Year's Eve, two children of entrepreneur Block are dragged into a car in Denmark.

A bitter custody battle that, according to the prosecution, culminated in the kidnapping of two children: A trial against Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block and six other defendants begins today (9:30 a.m.) at the Hamburg Regional Court. One of them is Block's partner, television presenter Gerhard Delling (66).

The case, which made national headlines, unfolded as follows from the prosecutor's perspective: On New Year's Eve 2023/24, several men ambushed the father, Stephan Hensel, and the children in southern Denmark. The perpetrators allegedly beat Hensel and dragged the children into a car. During the alleged abduction, according to the prosecution, the children's mouths were taped shut, and the daughter's hands were tied. The boy and girl were first taken to Baden-Württemberg and later traveled to Hamburg with their mother.

The daughter of Eugen Block, founder of the Block House restaurant chain, has been fighting for years to protect her daughter, born in 2010, and son, born in 2013. Both children have been living with their father, Stephan Hensel (51), in Denmark since 2021. According to the Hamburg public prosecutor's office, he illegally kept them with him after a weekend visit in accordance with his visitation rights. The divorced couple have two other older children, one of whom lives with her father and one with her mother.

On January 5, 2024, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court (OLG) ruled, based on an urgent application by the father, that the children must be returned to him. This was done the same day. The interim order granted him sole custody and parental authority.

The mother, along with a 63-year-old German man, allegedly ordered the forcible removal of her two children from the custody of their father, who also had custody. Block and the 63-year-old are charged with joint aggravated abduction of minors in conjunction with dangerous bodily harm and deprivation of liberty. The mother is also accused of severe abuse of those in her care. Her defense attorneys deny the allegations.

The sports journalist and television presenter allegedly organized Christina Block's travel to Baden-Württemberg and coordinated her return to Hamburg with her children. Delling is also suspected of making false statements to criminal investigators. He is charged with aiding and abetting. Delling's defense attorney, David Rieks, has denied the allegations.

A 35-year-old Israeli, along with five other men, is alleged to have been directly involved in the kidnapping; he has been in custody since November. According to the public prosecutor's office, a 58-year-old German, head of a Hamburg security company, was responsible for guarding Block's property to prevent the children from escaping. He is charged with aiding and abetting the joint aggravated abduction of minors in conjunction with dangerous bodily harm and deprivation of liberty. A 49-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man from Block's circle face the same charges.

The custody dispute between Block and her ex-husband recently also presided over the Federal Constitutional Court. The judges dismissed Block's appeal. The court stated that all four children initially lived with their mother after the couple's separation in 2014 and divorce in 2018. A visitation arrangement for visits with their father had been in place since 2015. In July 2021, the eldest daughter moved in with her father by mutual consent.

The two youngest children have been living with their father since August 2021. After a weekend visit, he announced that he would not bring them back due to the mother's behavior "endangering the child's well-being." The exact allegations are not officially known. In the fall of 2021, the Higher Regional Court provisionally granted the mother sole custody of the children and ordered the father to return the children to the mother.

Denmark is the only EU country that does not automatically recognize decisions made by courts in other member states in custody disputes. At the end of 2021, a Danish district court declared the enforcement of the German decision inadmissible. Block filed an application in Denmark in 2022 for the return of her children under the Danish Child Abduction Act. Subsequently, a court ruled in February 2023 that although the children had been illegally brought to Denmark, they could not be returned.

Fundamentally not. The Hamburg Family Court declared itself incompetent in October 2023. This decision was supported by the Higher Regional Court at the end of November. The same court rejected Block's appeal in February 2024, finding, like the Danish court, that due to the children's consistent statements that they wanted to live with their father, a transfer could not be enforced. At the beginning of May of this year, a Danish court awarded the father sole custody.

Hensel's lawyer, Philip von der Meden, argues that the father wanted to protect his children from violence. Block's lawyer, Otmar Kury, commented on the allegations against his client: "This is a subject of family court proceedings, and the mother has always said that, of course, she didn't hit the children." Psychologists have repeatedly found that the children were severely influenced by their father.