After the knife attack in a regional train in Schleswig-Holstein, the role of the Hamburg authorities also came into focus. The opposition factions in the Hamburg Parliament are demanding a thorough investigation of the crime.
CDU parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering explained: “In particular, the Hamburg judiciary and the responsible Senator (Anna) Gallina (Greens) must, based on everything we know so far, be asked whether the previous handling of the alleged perpetrator was actually appropriate.”
A 33-year-old Palestinian is said to have stabbed travelers on a regional train from Kiel to Hamburg on Wednesday. In the act at Brokstedt train station, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old were killed and five other people were injured.
The alleged attacker was previously in custody for a year because of another knife attack in Hamburg. He was on August 18, 2022 by the District Court of Hamburg-St. Georg was sentenced to one year and one week for dangerous bodily harm and theft, court spokesman Kai Wantzen said on Thursday.
According to the judgment, which is not final, the 33-year-old attacked and injured a man with a knife in front of a homeless shelter in Hamburg on January 18, 2022. Both had stood in line for food distribution and got into an argument.
The 33-year-old appealed the verdict. The district court had initially initiated follow-up investigations, and there were also scheduling difficulties with an expert. Therefore, a date for a new trial could not be set.
Because the duration of the detention threatened to exceed the sentence of the district court, the district court lifted the arrest warrant on January 19. Since only the convict had appealed the verdict, the district court should not have pronounced a longer prison sentence, said court spokesman Wantzen.
CDU parliamentary group leader Thering nevertheless raised the question: “How can it be that someone who allegedly stabbed another man several times with a knife is only sentenced to one year and one week in prison?” The parliamentary group will request that The judiciary committee of the citizenship is dealing with the topic and expects comprehensive clarification from Senator Gallina.
She expressed her “deepest condolences” to the victims and their families. “We will also do our part to ensure that this terrible act is cleared up by the responsible authorities,” said Gallina. “All the authorities concerned in the various federal states are busy clarifying the facts and are in close contact.”
The judiciary committee of the Hamburg Parliament will also deal with the case at its next meeting. “We will also report on the current status there,” said Gallina.
A few days before the deadly knife attack on a regional train from Kiel to Hamburg, the alleged perpetrator underwent a psychiatric assessment – without any particular abnormalities being found.
The Hamburg judiciary announced that he had already received psychiatric care in the Billwerder prison in Hamburg during his almost one-year pre-trial detention for a violent crime. The reason for the care had been assaults in which he had been involved twice during his detention.
“Shortly before the release, a psychiatrist found no harm to others or to himself,” said a spokeswoman for the authorities. That is why there was no reliable evidence to apply for legal support or to turn on the social psychiatric service. “Unlike when an arrest warrant is revoked, there are no options to impose conditions or instructions when it is revoked.”
Lawyer Björn Seelbach, who claims to represent the stateless Palestinian, was surprised that his client had been released a few days before the crime. It would have been “better if you could have prepared him for his dismissal,” Seelbach told Der Spiegel.
Since the alleged attacker was homeless before his imprisonment in Hamburg, “he was now on the street”. His client has no family members in Germany. According to the lawyer, the stateless Palestinian came from the Gaza Strip. His family was harassed by the radical Palestinian organization Hamas. “That was the reason for his escape.”
In the judgment of the Hamburg-St. Georg is told that Ibrahim A. and several relatives experienced “the most severe mistreatment by Hamas” in the Gaza Strip. Ibrahim A. was “inflicted with burns and cuts”. Hamas killed an uncle. His mother died in 2010, his father in 2012. He still has six siblings, all of whom were still living in the Gaza Strip at least as of August 2022.
The court saw a 50 percent risk that Ibrahim A. would commit crimes again. There is a lack of a “favorable social prognosis”.
The other Hamburg opposition parties also commented on the verdict. The domestic political spokesman for the left-wing faction, Deniz Celik, said: “It is a terrible act and the judiciary must certainly put up with uncomfortable questions.”
In addition to the dismay and sadness about this act, there is also anger: “Far beyond the AfD, political actors use the bloodbath to create atmosphere against refugees and to initiate new debates about deportations that are supposedly overdue.”
But the alleged perpetrator was legally in the country and not required to leave the country. The prevention of such acts should be seen as a task for prevention and justice “and not as a new template to fish for votes in a politically irresponsible way on the right-wing fringe,” said the left-wing MP.
AfD parliamentary group leader Dirk Nockemann demanded: “The cuddly justice paired with the red-green policy of open borders must come to an end.” He called for comprehensive clarification of the background to the crime. “How can it be that a knife attacker becomes a repeat offender a week after his release from prison?” asked the AfD MP.
