V-MAN CEM: After the attack on Anis Amri, the police dropped him. Today he lives with his family in the witness protection program in a secret place.
Photo: Marcus Simaitis for SPIEGELMurat Cem was sitting in his living room on the morning of December 21, 2016, watching TV. Two days earlier, a man drove a truck into the crowd at the Christmas market on Berlin's Breitscheidplatz, killed eleven people, injured dozens and shot the Polish driver. The news said the unknown perpetrator was on the run.
Cem's cell phone rang.
"Yes hello?"
After working for the police for almost 20 years, Murat Cem had gotten used to saying his name on the phone. Otherwise he was afraid of giving himself away.
At the other end was a policeman who had known him for a long time. He said this one sentence: "It was Anis Amri."
At that moment, Cem had difficulty breathing, tears welled up in his eyes, that's how he describes it today. The officer said Amri was on the run and any clue could help catch him. Cem stammered: France maybe, Italy. He doesn't think Amri will be arrested. "I think he's more likely to be shot than to be arrested." He reminded them how dangerous Amri was. Then the two hung up.
When Amri's picture appeared on television soon afterwards, Cem felt a deep sadness. Sometimes she still haunts him today.
Murat Cem knew Anis Amri better than any police officer. He probably knew him better than most of the Islamist sympathizers. "There were days," says Cem, "when I took Amri to bed in the evening and picked him up again in the morning."
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