French authorities found “no evidence” justifying the prosecution of a 55-year-old German, who was suspected of holding and torturing his wife for 12 years, and will therefore be released, Sargemein prosecutor Olivier Glady announced this afternoon.

The police arrested the man in the early hours of Monday in the family’s apartment in the town of Forbach, on the border of France and Germany. He was taken into custody after his wife, 53, who was found half-naked and with a “shaved” head, said he tortured her, raped her and held her against her will inside the house.

Glady said the 55-year-old would be released this afternoon or evening as “the charge of illegal detention does not exist”.

The medical examiner who examined the woman found no injuries.

The husband explained to authorities that his wife, to whom he has been married since 2001, suffers from an autoimmune rheumatic condition that has left her “incapacitated” for about 10 months and that he takes care of her. Due to this condition she also developed “allergies” combined with a form of “alopecia”, which is why she lost her hair.

The 53-year-old, however, insists that “she is not sick”the prosecutor said, noting that he made “incoherent” statements to officers.

She called a German organization for the protection of victims of domestic violence between Sunday night and Monday, which in turn contacted Wiesbaden police. From the on-site investigation, the officers found that the woman was not a “prisoner” but instead had access “to a television, a computer and a cordless phone”, with which she called the German authorities.