signs of psychiatric disorders in the suspect, according to Berlin

The German government announced this Monday that “signs” of psychiatric disorders of the alleged perpetrator of the fatal car-ramming attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market, whose behavior reflects a “pathological psyche”.

“What is striking are the thousands of declarations” made by the attacker on social networks “which indicate a pathological psyche”declared Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser after a hearing before the Internal Affairs Committee of the National Chamber of Deputies.

Since December 20, Germany has been wondering about the reasons which pushed Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who came to Germany in 2006, to mow down the Christmas market crowd in a powerful BMW vehicle. launched at full speed. This attack left five people dead and more than 200 injured.

This is the first time that the authorities have officially reported psychological problems of the alleged perpetrator, arrested at the scene of the tragedy in his car. This man known for his hostile opinions against Islam, who had broken with his religion and his country of origin, “does not fit into any previous pattern” known to the authorities, also underlined the Minister of the Interior. “There are tens of thousands of tweets from the attacker. This is the reason why everything is not yet on the table”said Nancy Faeser.

The security services will have to learn to better understand this profile of individuals “with psychological disorders and often motivated by confusing conspiracy theories”she further estimated. Even if“it would certainly have been important to carry out a comparison of knowledge” about the suspect, collected in the past by different national and regional authorities, without always communicating with each other, the drama “could not have been avoided”however judged the minister.

She thus responded to accusations from opposition parties and several media who accuse the authorities of failings in this affair.