After the deadly knife attack on a regional train in Schleswig-Holstein, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) questioned how the authorities were dealing with the suspect, who had already committed a crime.
It must be clarified, "how could it be that such a perpetrator was still here in the country," she said on Thursday during a visit to Brokstedt.
Brokstedt - "How could it happen that he was no longer in a correctional facility despite so many previous convictions.
How could it happen that he was released from custody so early.”
In the knife attack on Wednesday, a stateless Palestinian in the regional train from Kiel to Hamburg killed a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old and injured five other passengers, some seriously.
The 33-year-old attacker was released just a few days ago by order of the Hamburg Regional Court from Billwerder Prison, where he was being held in custody for a violent crime.
According to the authorities, since entering Germany in 2014, he has repeatedly committed violent crimes.
The man had been granted subsidiary protection status, which protected him from deportation.
This status should be lifted in the meantime - the current status was unclear on Thursday.
Faeser did not want her statements to be understood as criticism of the Hamburg court's decision.
"This isn't about assigning blame."
It's about "that we have to work out where mistakes happened." Not least because of its own "dark history", Germany has a "humanitarian obligation to also take in refugees," she said.
"We have to investigate why people who are so violent are still here in Germany."
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), a granted protection status can be revoked under certain conditions.
This could be the case with a person entitled to subsidiary protection, for example, "if the foreigner has committed a serious crime or he poses a danger to the general public or to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany," said a spokesman.
dpa
