Germany: 320 new trials against Islamists
After the attack in Nice, Attorney General Peter Frank warns Germans against underestimating the danger of Islamist terrorism. In an interview with the Sunday edition of Welt am Sonntag, Frank said: “The threat posed by Islamist-motivated terrorism is and will remain great. I warn against believing that Islamist terrorism is on the decline just because there have been no complex attacks in Germany this year. "
The murders in France, but also the arrests in Germany this year, showed: “Germany and Western Europe are still in the crosshairs of radical Islamists.” Frank assumes 620 Islamist threats.
Assuming the number of extremist acts of violence, then Islamist terrorism still takes up most of the work of the Attorney General. "In 2020 we have so far initiated around 320 new procedures from this phenomenon," said Frank. "The number has decreased compared to the last few years - but that says nothing about the qualitative risk." In the first quarter of this year there were 149 such procedures.
The most recent case of an alleged Islamist act occurred in Baden-Württemberg. A 20-year-old German is under suspicion of terrorism. According to information from Welt am Sonntag, officials searched his living space in Lahr in Baden-Württemberg in the early morning hours of October 30th. The accused is in custody.
From security circles it is said that the man spoke of further attacks in the context of the current terrorist attacks in France. The suspect is said to have declared his willingness to get involved himself. As the target of the attack, he primarily named France.
Upon request, the Karlsruhe public prosecutor confirmed that it had initiated an investigation into the initial suspicion of preparing a serious, state-endangering act of violence. A spokesman with reference to the ongoing proceedings did not want to give more details. The statements made by the arrested alarmed security authorities.
According to the public prosecutor's office, there are currently no indications of concrete attack plans by the accused. During the search of his home, evidence was found, including data carriers that are now being evaluated. Officials did not find any weapons in the living quarters.
Meanwhile, the French police have taken two other possible helpers of the alleged perpetrator in Nice. A 29-year-old Tunisian and a 33-year-old who were in another suspect's home during the search. "We are trying to clarify his role in the whole," it said from legal circles.
The police had already arrested a 47-year-old and a 35-year-old who are suspected of having been in contact with the attacker shortly before the attack. Surveillance camera footage showed that the elder had met with him the day before the crime.
The attacker was shot several times by the police when he was arrested and is currently seriously injured in hospital. He killed the 55-year-old sexton and a 60-year-old woman with a 30 centimeter long knife in the Notre-Dame Basilica on Thursday morning. A 44-year-old Brazilian woman who was also attacked managed to escape from the church, but then succumbed to her stab wounds in a restaurant.
The alleged Nice assassin, who comes from Tunisia, came to Lampedusa across the Mediterranean in September and then moved on to France. According to information from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, which is exclusively available to Welt am Sonntag, 27,190 migrants came into the country by boat from January 1 through Thursday (previous year 9533), including 41 percent Tunisians (11,195).
Citizens of this state only receive a four percent protection title. There are few refugees among the migrants on the central Mediterranean route. The most important countries of origin this year after Tunisia: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ivory Coast and Algeria. Tunisia was also ahead in 2019, followed by Pakistan, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Bangladesh. For people from these countries, the recognition rate across the EU is below 20 percent. The majority of those rejected are not deported.
Source: Welt
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