The husband of a Miss Switzerland finalist went on trial today over his wife’s horrific death.
Mark Reiben, 42, allegedly flew into a rage before murdering Kristina Joksimovic – a shocking autopsy revealed he dismembered her body and “purified” her parts in a blender.
Today, as the hearing began at the Basel-Landschaft Criminal Court in Mutzen, the public was kept out of the courthouse, which has been cordoned off by police and security.
Rieben is accused of Christina’s murder and insulting the dead. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment.
according to blickAfter being kept in isolation in the jail since his arrest, the defendant was taken to court in handcuffs.
According to the indictment, the violence erupted during an argument over the couple’s separation on Feb. 13, 2024.
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Over lunch, the couple discussed separating – but Rieben reportedly refused to accept the divorce, demanded full custody of their children and refused financial support.
Prosecutors say what happened next was heartbreaking and a deliberate act of cruelty.
During the altercation, Ribben – the son of a successful lawyer – allegedly grabbed Christina by the throat and threw her against a wall.
He then used a “ribbon-like object” to strangle her before embarking on a dismemberment campaign that investigators say was both deliberate and systematic.
The autopsy revealed a list of injuries – blunt force trauma, lacerations to her face, bruises all over her body and hair torn from her scalp.
After murdering her, Ribben dismembered her body using a saw, knife and garden shears.
Investigators say he “carefully removed” her uterus – the only organ taken – in what experts described as “intentional mutilation or ritualistic dismemberment of the body.”
Some parts were placed in an industrial blender, while others were dissolved in chemicals.
Shockingly, investigators found that he was playing YouTube videos on his phone at the time of the dismemberment.
The basement laundry room of the family home – described as “an isolated bunker with thick concrete walls” – became the scene of unimaginable horror.
There, police later discovered bone and tissue fragments, as well as “a large number” of skin layers, “some striking the muscles”.
This heinous crime was revealed not by the police, but by Christina’s own father.
When she failed to pick up their daughters from kindergarten, her parents became worried.
Her father went to her home, where Ribben reportedly claimed he did not know where she was.
For hours, he reportedly behaved as if nothing was wrong as he cooked dinner, put the children to bed and talked calmly to his father-in-law.
A friend said, “Reben continued to insist that he did not know where Christina was and claimed that she was gone sometimes.”
As Ribben spoke to Christina’s mother on the phone, her father searched the house.
In the basement, she saw a black bin bag with strands of blonde hair sticking out of it.
“When she opened the black bin bag, she saw his severed head, with her hair still attached,” the friend said.
He ran outside screaming and pleading with a passerby to call the police, before returning to confront his son-in-law.
Christina was a glamorous former Miss Switzerland finalist and catwalk coach. His social media showed photos of his family smiling along with their two young daughters.
A few weeks before his death, photographs showed a romantic “couple’s holiday” with Rieben at Lake Lucerne.
The couple, who married in 2017, lived in an expensive semi-detached house in Binningen, near Basel – a quiet, affluent neighborhood where Rieben was seen as a model husband.
Neighbors described Riben as a “devoted father.”
Former Miss Switzerland Nadine Vinzens said: “She always made a pleasant impression on me. I never thought her husband would do something like this.”
Another friend said: “To me, they seemed like the perfect family.”
After his arrest, Ribben reportedly showed no emotion.
Through his lawyers, he has confessed, but has said that he acted in self-defense because Christina attacked him.
He alleged that moments before his death, Christina “suddenly attacked him with a knife” after a “positive” conversation.
He said he committed the act “out of panic”.
One expert rejected his claim of self-defense, pointing out that victims of real life-threatening attacks typically contact the police immediately – not “quick, purposeful and systematically executed” attempts to destroy evidence.
His actions only make sense if he was trying to “eliminate as many traces as possible, including the body, to hide what really happened,” the expert said.
Prosecutors say Reiben had a history of violence, including previously strangling his wife – evidence supported by earlier photographs – and assaulting a former partner.
According to the indictment, the murder was intentional, motivated by “a selfish attitude and mentality that included the need for control, hurt feelings, revenge, and intense anger”.
Reben has been in custody since his arrest.
The media is following the trial via video link, with only judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, defendants and family allowed into the courtroom.
Due to strict Swiss privacy laws, Ribben is being referred to in local media as Thomas L., while Christina – a former Miss Switzerland finalist – is Ivana L.
Rieben has denied the allegations against him.
The hearing is expected to last five and a half days.
