Behind closed doors, by video switch, with a distorted voice: statement by the undercover agent Murat Cem in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament
Photo: Marius Becker / dpaThe former undercover agent in the vicinity of the terrorist Anis Amri has confirmed that he had warned the authorities several times about the Tunisian. "He answered questions very precisely and was able to describe situations very precisely," said Jörg Geerlings (CDU), the chairman of the NRW committee of inquiry into the terrorist attack on Berlin's Breitscheidplatz, after hearing the liaison man with the code name Murat Cem.
Cem answered questions from the members of the investigative committee of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament for around three and a half hours; alienated and with a distorted voice. In order to keep his identity a secret, he was connected via video transmission from an unknown location.
SPIEGEL had already made public in March that Cem, also known as VP01, had warned the authorities several times about Amri. The security authorities did not draw any conclusions from this.
Amri carried out an attack on the Berlin Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz in 2016, killing twelve people in total.
According to the dpa news agency, Cem said that he knew that Amri had dealt with attack plans and that he was capable of carrying out an attack. He also passed this on. However, he did not know anything about the manner of the attack or the timing. His main focus was not on Amri, but on Abu Walaa. He was set on him.
Cem's testimony before the committee of inquiry was previously to be prevented several times. Among other things, North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry of the Interior spoke out against the statement by Cems with reference to security concerns. It was about an interrogation in the Amri investigation committee of the Bundestag. The police had also always prevented their top informant from appearing in front of courts or parliaments. It was said that this was too dangerous for Cem.
Icon: The mirrorfek / dpa