crime
Charges filed against Hamburg airport hostage takers
A good four months have passed since the hostage-taking at Hamburg airport. Now charges have been filed. photo
© Bodo Marks/dpa
In November, a man kidnapped his little daughter and drove her to Hamburg airport. The hostage crisis paralyzes the airport for 18 hours. Now the man is supposed to stand trial.
A good four months after the 18-hour hostage-taking At Hamburg Airport, the public prosecutor’s office has brought charges against the alleged perpetrator. The 35-year-old Turk is expected to answer for taking hostages, kidnapping minors, intentional bodily harm and weapons offenses, the prosecution announced.
The man is accused of kidnapping his four-year-old daughter from her mother’s apartment in Stade, Lower Saxony, on the evening of November 4th last year and driving with the child to Hamburg airport. He broke through three barriers with the car and drove onto the apron. There, the 35-year-old shot several times into the air with a pistol and threw two burning Molotov cocktails out of the vehicle. He also threatened to have three bombs with him.
According to the indictment, he wanted to use the action to emphasize his demand for a plane to be provided for him and his daughter to travel to Turkey. The background was a custody dispute with the child’s mother.
It was only after 18 hours that the man surrendered to the police and was arrested. The entire airport was paralyzed during the operation.