His provocative appearance caused outrage even before the trial had begun: A 27-year-old Syrian and suspected IS supporter made no secret of his views.
He did not hide his face and showed the raised index finger, the gesture of the radical Islamists: Since Monday, a 27-year-old Syrian has had to answer for murder and three attempted murders before the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf for two bloody crimes in Duisburg.
When the judges entered, he always remained seated demonstratively. His appearance sparked outrage among spectators and family members in the courtroom on Monday. “Murderer” and “son of a bitch” were hissed from the audience, accompanied by the threat of lynching.
“This devil, this beast,” the father of the murdered 35-year-old Irfan later shouted in front of the high-security building. “No one should lose their child this way. I hope for justice.” His son was also a Muslim and a taxpayer at that, before he fell victim to this “self-righteous devil”.
“Soldier” of IS
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office assumes an Islamist motive for the knife attacks in a fitness studio and on the street in April in Duisburg. The Syrian in the dock saw himself as a “soldier” of the terrorist group “Islamic State.”
His aim was to kill as many “infidels” as possible. For him, that meant everyone who lived in the western, free society and not according to Sharia law. He came to Germany in 2016, applied for asylum and received a residence permit.
In the changing room and shower area of the branch of a well-known fitness studio chain, the Syrian is said to have rammed a knife into the upper bodies of three male gym visitors, some of them several times, on April 18th.
First he raged in the locker room, then in the shower. He is said to have attacked a helper who rushed to stop the bleeding of one of the seriously injured people with a towel from behind and stabbed him twice in the thigh before he was able to rush out of the studio and disappear.
One of the injured people “succumbed to infirmity” after the murder attempt. Others lost organs as a result of being stabbed with a 21 centimeter knife blade.
Trace analysis led to suspicion of murder
The security authorities raised a major alarm. The crime scene was just one street away from the Duisburg town hall. Special forces with submachine guns cordoned off the gym. The stabber was still able to disappear, but according to investigators, he was filmed by several surveillance cameras: from a restaurant, a clothing store and a tram stop near the crime scene.
The trace analysis then linked the gym attack with a murder in Duisburg’s old town nine days earlier. Due to a DNA trace on a shoe, the Syrian also came under suspicion as the suspected murderer of 35-year-old Irfan, who was killed with 28 stab wounds at Easter. DNA traces from the 35-year-old who was killed and from one of the victims from the gym were found on the defendant’s shoe.
Jochen Weingarten, representative of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in the case of the first crime on April 9th, reported stabs in quick succession: in the throat, nape and stomach “up to the point where organs emerged.” After both bloody crimes, investigators initially did not assume Islamist terrorism.
When two of the Syrian’s acquaintances recognized him “100 percent” from surveillance camera footage and reported him to the police, a special unit was able to arrest the man in his apartment not far from the crime scene.
Ready to say – or not?
It was only when they looked at his cell phone and searched the apartment that the investigators realized what was behind the seemingly senseless bloodlust.
The defendant confirmed his personal details on Monday and did not rule out admitting to the allegations on the next day of the trial, if another day was planned. The question surprised him; 17 more days of trial were planned, answered the presiding judge Jan van Lessen.
The Syrian’s Duisburg defense attorney neither wanted to confirm nor deny his supposed sudden willingness to testify following the start of the trial. So far, his client has remained silent about the allegations.
The investigators were unable to find any evidence that would identify the defendant as a member of IS or that he was ordered to commit the crimes. IS had also not claimed responsibility for the assassination attempts.
Accordingly, he would be a so-called lone wolf who was radicalized via the Internet and took action on his own. Secret services and state security agencies have been warning about this type of assassin for years because it is almost impossible to get to him in time.
The Syrian had previously only been noticed in two cases for minor property crimes. Both proceedings had been discontinued.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
