Knife attack on the train: the perpetrator has a long criminal record – even his lawyer criticizes the judiciary

After the knife attack on a train, Brokstedt in Schleswig-Holstein is in shock.

Meanwhile, there is information about the perpetrator, now his lawyer speaks up.

Brokstedt – January 25, shortly before 3 p.m., a regional train from Kiel on its way to Hamburg, next stop: Brokstedt in the district of Steinburg.

A fellow passenger suddenly pulls a knife and apparently attacks passengers at random.

Five people are injured and two passengers are killed.

But who is the culprit?

Little by little, information is leaking out, and now the man's lawyer has spoken out.

Man attacks fellow travelers with knife: Perpetrators fled from Hamas to Germany

Itzehoe police announced on the evening of January 25 that the attacker was a 33-year-old.

He is from Palestine but is currently stateless.

According to his lawyer Björn Seelbach, the man had fled the terrorist organization Hamas after living with his family in the Gaza Strip until 2014;

court documents, Hamas

inflicted "serious abuse" on him in the form of "burns and cuts".

The 33-year-old is now in police custody, but initially had to be taken to a hospital for minor injuries.

The man wants to remain silent about the killing of the two train passengers, as well as the injuries he inflicted on other passengers, some of them serious, reports his defense attorney Björn Seelbach.

The lawyer, who should be aware that the prospects of an acquittal are negligible, instead criticizes the judiciary.

He "was surprised that [his] client was released from custody so suddenly," Seelbach complained to

according to

The lack of support becomes the focus of his argument.

In his view, it would have been “better if he [the perpetrator, d.

Red.] can prepare for the dismissal”.

The background is: just six days before the crime in Brokstedt, the 33-year-old was still in prison.

Knife attacker von Brokstedt just got out of prison – lawyer criticizes the judiciary

The man entered Germany in December 2014, lived in Euskirchen until 2020 and worked as a parcel carrier.

He was already convicted of shoplifting in 2015, but received protection status in the asylum procedure in 2016.

Other crimes followed, and the man on record moved to Kiel in 2021.

The authorities became aware of him and initiated proceedings to withdraw his protection status.

On January 18, 2022, the 33-year-old stabbed a man in the arm, hand and neck with a knife during an argument outside a homeless shelter.

The judiciary decided on imprisonment and denied a favorable social prognosis;

it is assumed that there is a 50 percent risk of reoffending.

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Police and fire brigade and rescue services are deployed at a level crossing at Brokstedt station.

Two people were killed and several injured in the knife attack on a regional train from Kiel to Hamburg.

© picture alliance/dpa |

Jonas Walzberg

The man, who had reported alcohol and drug consumption at the trial, appealed against the sentence – the imprisonment was therefore not final and therefore not enforceable.

The 33-year-old remained in custody, where there were probably renewed arguments with fellow inmates and law enforcement officials.

On January 19, 2023, the stay in custody made up a large part of the originally imposed prison sentence - the man was released after a psychiatric evaluation, which was unremarkable.

On January 25, 2023, he presented himself in Kiel and, according to the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, wanted to apply for a "residence card".

List of rubrics: © picture alliance/dpa |

Jonas Walzberg