Spanish judge jails cult leader on suicide charges

A judge in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands has ordered Heide Fittkau-Garthe to be held in detention on charges of inducement to suicide and attempted murder, the Spanish news agency EFE reported from the island.

She was refused bail after presenting a declaration, which lasted five hours, the agency said.

Fittkau-Garthe was arrested on Wednesday night and accused of trying to abet the suicide of 32 followers, including five children.

Police had so far failed to establish whether a liquid thought to have been poison and destined for the group was in fact poisonous, the agency added.

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