Fugitive doctor faces trial for 1982 murder

Sky News

A fugitive German doctor who was kidnapped and left in front of a courthouse after poisoning his girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter has gone on trial for murder.

Cardiologist Dieter Krombach, 75, lived in freedom for years in Germany after the 1982 death of Kalinka Bamberski, the child of his French girlfriend.

He was convicted by a French court in his absence of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in jail, but Germany did not extradite him, after dismissing the case in 1987 due to lack of evidence.

Then in 2009, Dr Krombach was kidnapped, tied up, smuggled into France and left in front of a court in the eastern French town of Mulhouse - an act of revenge allegedly arranged by Andre Bamberski, Kalinka's father.

Mr Bamberski was arrested and charged over the matter, and he has said that he gave the go-ahead for the kidnap and would suffer the consequences.

He had said he had to act because the statute of limitations was running out and he wanted Krombach to face justice in France.

Dr Krombach has now gone on trial in Paris for murder, after new testimonies and evidence emerged.

Mr Bamberski's lawyer, Laurent de Caunes, told reporters: "For him it's a relief. It's what he's always sought - that Krombach be tried is an act that needed to be accomplished and French justice will finally accomplish it."

The death happened at Dr Krombach's home in Lindau, south west Germany, after Miss Bamberski received a mystery injection.

On being questioned after Miss Bamberski's death, Dr Krombach said he injected her with an iron-based solution to help her tan faster.

He later said it was a remedy for anaemia.

German coroners then concluded she had died of natural causes, despite mysterious fluids on her underwear and legs and a pinprick on her arm.

Mr Bamberski refused to accept the decision and filed for charges in France.

Magistrates there found evidence suggesting she had been raped and drugged.

In Germany in 1996, Dr Krombach received a suspended two-year sentence for raping a 16-year-old girl in his medical surgery after drugging her and a two-year ban from practising his profession.

In 2006, he received an 18-month jail term for practising medicine without a licence.

Dr Krombach's lawyers are expected to seek to suspend the trial, arguing that it is for German justice to try him.