criticized, the German government promises to shed light on the tragedy

Since Friday evening, questions have arisen about the reasons which pushed the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, to commit the attack and about possible failures to alert despite worrying signals.

Could the tragedy of Magdeburg have been avoided? Were any alerts ignored? Two days after the car-ramming attack which left five people dead and some 200 injured in the Christmas market in this town in north-eastern Germany, the Ministry of the Interior said in a press release published on Sunday December 22, that all light will be shed on these gray areas concerning possible shortcomings and errors in the prevention of the attack. Investigations by security authorities “are carried out at a sustained pace” et “every stone will be lifted”, assured the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser.

Two months before early elections at the end of February, the pressure from MPs on the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is particularly strong. Thus, the Minister of the Interior and other senior officials will be heard on December 30 by the Bundestag's internal affairs committee.

In this very tense political context, the government is strongly criticized. “The incompetence of the administration, which allowed the horror of Magdeburg, leaves us speechless”declared the leader of the German far right, Alice Weidel. The head of the radical left, BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht, for her part demanded explanations, after a “so many warnings were ignored.”

Presented to a judge on Saturday evening, the suspect in the attack, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, was placed in pre-trial detention. “The opinions and statements of the suspect will be examined as well as the evidence and procedures with the various authorities and the justice system, in order to draw the appropriate conclusions”underlined Nancy Faeser. This 50-year-old Saudi doctor “acted in an incredibly cruel and brutal manner, like an Islamist terrorist, although his ideology appears to be that of an opponent of Islam“, continued the Minister of the Interior, in her press release on Sunday, recalling that this is a profile “which does not match any known profile”.

However, according to the magazine The mirrorthe Saudi secret services had sent a warning a year ago to their German BND correspondents about the suspect, due to a tweet in which he threatened Germany with a “prix” to pay for its treatment of Saudi refugees. After an assessment “of risk” in 2023, the German police judged that he did not present “particular danger”, according to information published Sunday by the daily The world.

German media also report that, the day before the attack, the Saudi psychiatrist ignored a court summons to Berlin, where he was being prosecuted for a scandal in a police station refusing to register his complaint. So many elements which fuel criticism of the surveillance he was subject to.