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Passers-by, flowers and a patrol car in front of the entrance to a Jehovah's Witnesses church.
© Jonas Walzberg/dpa/archive image
A good year after the shooting spree in Hamburg, the investigations against three members of an audit committee that worked in the shooting club of the later perpetrator have been discontinued.
The public prosecutor explains the reasons.
Hamburg - After the attack that left eight people dead at a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hamburg, the public prosecutor's office has discontinued the investigation against three members of an audit committee that worked in the shooting club of the later perpetrator.
The guilt of the three accused should be viewed as minor, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Furthermore, there is no longer any public interest in criminal prosecution.
Legal and official deficiencies in the implementation of the expertise test required to obtain a firearms license were also important in the decision.
The prosecution spoke of complex, sometimes contradictory and, on the other hand, lack of legal requirements regarding the exact procedure of the competency test.
According to information from April 2023, the three members of the audit committee were investigated due to initial suspicion of false certification in office.
On March 9, 2023, after a community meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hamburg-Alsterdorf, Philipp F. killed seven people and ultimately himself with a semi-automatic pistol.
After the decision was announced, the justice policy spokeswoman for the Die Linke parliamentary group in the Hamburg parliament, Cansu Özdemir, said that the public prosecutor's hiring decision gave the weapons authority a disastrous report.
The politician criticized: “It is clear that the weapons authority has shown no responsibility for the professional supervision of the examinations of weapons licenses, which is their responsibility, and in this way has enabled completely irregular examination processes.” The population must be able to trust that the weapon laws are strictly controlled.
An employee of the weapons authority is also being investigated on suspicion of negligent homicide.
The investigation was ongoing, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said when asked on Wednesday.
According to a statement from April 2023, the man is said to have not correctly forwarded information about the psychological state of the later shooter within the authority.
dpa