At the “Festival of Diversity” in Solingen, a man kills several people. One day later, the police arrest a suspect. Now the highest German prosecutor’s office is getting involved.
After the fatal knife attack in Solingen, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the case and is investigating the suspect for murder and suspected membership of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS). A spokeswoman for the highest German prosecution authority told the German Press Agency in Karlsruhe. The suspect is to be brought before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on Sunday. An attempt to deport the suspected asylum seeker from Syria failed last year.
All seriously injured are on the road to recovery
According to police, a 26-year-old turned himself in to investigators on Saturday evening. The man said he was responsible for the attack. The involvement of this person is being investigated intensively. According to the Düsseldorf police, the suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian. According to dpa information, he was wearing blood-stained clothing when he turned himself in.
The seriously injured victims are on the mend. “All four patients still being treated as inpatients are over the hill,” said Thomas Standl, medical director and medical manager at the Solingen Municipal Hospital, to the television station Welt TV. The crime scene in the city center remained cordoned off on Sunday morning. Hundreds of people gathered for a memorial service in the morning.
Suspect came to Germany at the end of 2022 and applied for asylum
On Friday evening, a man apparently randomly stabbed bystanders at an anniversary celebration for the 650th anniversary of the founding of the city of Solingen – the “Festival of Diversity”. He then escaped in the tumult and initial panic. Two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman died. Eight people were injured, four of them seriously. The terrorist group IS claimed responsibility for the attack, but security authorities have not yet confirmed an Islamist motive.
As “Spiegel” reported, the suspect came to Germany at the end of 2022 and applied for asylum. He was not previously known to the security authorities as an Islamist extremist. This information was confirmed to the German Press Agency.
The suspect’s asylum application was rejected. He was therefore to be deported to Bulgaria last year. He had entered the European Union via that country. However, since he had gone into hiding in Germany in the meantime, the deportation was no longer necessary for the time being, wrote the “Welt” newspaper – “Focus” also reported. The Syrian was later transferred to Solingen.
According to the Dublin rules, the EU state responsible for an asylum application is usually the one on whose soil the asylum seeker first set foot on European soil – in this case, Bulgaria. If the person moves to another EU country, such as Germany, without permission, the country can submit a so-called transfer request to the country in question. If this is approved, deportation can be ordered. However, the asylum seeker must then be deported within a certain period of time. If this is not successful, responsibility passes to the country that actually wanted to transfer the person.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said on Saturday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” after the arrest of the wanted man: “We not only had a lead on this person, but we also found evidence.” He did not provide any specific information about this evidence.
IS speaks of “revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere”
The Islamic State claimed in a statement on its propaganda channel Amak that the attacker was an IS member and carried out the attack out of “revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere”. The attack was aimed at a “group of Christians”.
The Düsseldorf police also said they received a letter claiming responsibility from IS. Now they have to check whether this letter is genuine, said a police spokesman. Investigators pointed out that IS has often claimed responsibility for an attack in the past without there being any reliable evidence of collaboration with the perpetrator.
With “revenge for Muslims in Palestine,” IS is presumably referring to the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. Neither IS nor the terrorist network Al-Qaeda have alliances with the Islamist Hamas. However, according to security authorities, the dangers posed by terrorism and radicalization in the Islamic world have increased as a result of the months-long war in Gaza. Alongside the USA, Germany is one of Israel’s most important allies and also one of its most important arms suppliers.
At a press conference in Wuppertal on Saturday afternoon, senior public prosecutor Markus Caspers said of the background to the crime: “We have not yet been able to identify a motive, but given the overall circumstances, we assume that the initial suspicion of a terrorist-motivated crime cannot be ruled out.” If there is increasing evidence of a terrorist crime, the Federal Public Prosecutor General could consider taking over the case. This has now happened.
Many cases of Islamist terrorism at the Federal Prosecutor’s Office
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is responsible, among other things, for acts of Islamist-motivated terrorism. Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel identified this as one of the main threats to Germany in his office’s annual review. According to Rommel, of the more than 700 investigations initiated last year in the area of terrorism and state security, almost 500 concerned Islamist terrorism. “Germany continues to be a target for radicalized Islamists,” says the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The spectrum ranges from individually radicalized perpetrators to conspiratorial terrorist cells.
On Saturday evening, the police had already searched a refugee shelter in Solingen “with the involvement of special forces”. A person who is said to have had contact with the perpetrator was taken to a police station, the Düsseldorf police said. According to current information, this is a witness.
A 15-year-old youth was arrested early on Saturday morning. One possible charge against him is failure to report planned crimes.
The crime in Solingen caused great concern throughout Germany. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a “terrible crime”. “We cannot accept something like this in our society and must never accept it. The full force of the law must be applied here,” said the SPD politician at an event in Brandenburg.
GBA on Islamist-motivated Islamism Bamf on the Dublin procedure
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.
