German chancellor Merz questions why the suspect in the Berlin Pride attack was not arrested
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Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Monday to take action over the car attack at the Berlin Pride weekend, amid questions about why the suspect was not arrested.
Merz said that it is too early to answer the question of what political results will be obtained from this incident.
“One thing that is clear, however, is that we cannot just stop at words. We will have to respond wisely, but also with determination,” he said.
The suspect, who was shot dead by police on Sunday, has been identified as 21-year-old German citizen Abdul Ballout, who was recently convicted of planning an act of violence and is believed to have tried to join the Islamic State terrorist group.
One person died in the incident that happened in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate on Saturday night. Poland's foreign minister identified the person as a Polish woman in her 60s. Bild newspaper said the victim was visiting the Christopher Street Day celebration with her daughter, who was also injured.
Ballout was a German citizen with Lebanese roots and was born and raised in Berlin, according to the German interior minister.
The police said they opened fire on him on Sunday when he ran away from the police who were armed with guns.
Alleged ISIS
In May, Ballout was convicted of preparing a serious act of violence that endangers the state and was sentenced under the juvenile law to one year and 10 months in prison, according to prosecutors. He was released under the supervision of a probation officer for six months after the court overturned a decision on whether to suspend the sentence.
According to prosecutors, the case centered on allegations that Ballout wanted to join the Islamic State in 2025.
Ballout was also convicted in Germany in February 2022 under juvenile law for assault and robbery-related offenses committed as a minor.
Merz asked how the suspect was able to go to Berlin Pride even though he was said to be under constant surveillance.
“I don't understand how I can track my cell phone anywhere in the world – or even use it to find the location of my iPad, for example – yet it is considered impossible, or technically impossible, for the security authorities in Germany to determine the whereabouts of certain people in their party who said that at the conference they put as security,” he said. formed the Christian Democratic Union.
Merz said that police supervision of convicted criminals is the responsibility of the states but added that he has instructed the minister of the interior of the state to look into changing the powers.
Meanwhile, the German prosecutor's office said on Monday that the second suspect who had been arrested had been released.
