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Indictment Filed on Counts of Suspected Islamist-Motivated Knife Attacks in Duisburg
Year of issue 2023
Date 14.09.2023
Indictment Filed on Counts of Suspected Islamist-Motivated Knife Attacks in Duisburg
On 30 August 2023, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against
the Syrian national Maan D.
before the State Security Chamber of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
There are sufficient reasons to suspect the accused of murder and three counts of attempted murder (section 211 para. 2 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]). He is further charged with dangerous bodily harm (section 224 para. 1 nos. 2 and 5 of the German Criminal Code) and grievous bodily harm (section 226 para. 1 no. 3 of the German Criminal Code).
In essence, the indictment sets out the following facts:
Maan D. is a follower of the radical Islamist ideology propagated by the foreign terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’. Acting in alignment with this belief, he decided to contribute to global jihad by means of killing supposed ‘infidels’ in Germany. To this end, the accused stabbed a man, whom he had encountered randomly in Duisburg’s old town in the early hours of 9 April 2023, at least 28 times in the abdomen, head and neck with a knife. The victim succumbed to his injuries later that day.
On the afternoon of 18 April 2023, Maan D. entered a fitness club in Duisburg in order to kill as many ‘infidels’ as possible. He went on to stab three male gym goers with a knife consecutively, some of whom repeatedly in their torsos, thereby inflicting life-threatening injuries. Afterwards, he stabbed one of the first responders twice in their thigh.
The accused has been in pre-trial detention since 24 April 2023, initially in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Duisburg Municipal Court on the same day, which was replaced by an arrest warrant issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice on 24 May 2023. On 28 April 2023, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had seized jurisdiction over the investigation due to the particular significance of the case (section 120 para. 2 no. 3 a) of the Courts Constitution Act).