What happened if? What if Ali K. had succeeded on that evening in May of last year in hijacking a car at an intersection in Laim and racing through the pedestrian zone in order to kill “as many Christians as possible”? Could he have caused a bloodbath like the assassin in Würzburg? The tenth criminal chamber at the Munich District Court I will not be able to answer this question. Because the four drivers he attacked had locked their doors or were able to accelerate in time and flee from the armed man. The Chamber will try to clarify whether the planned act was Islamistically motivated. The 36-year-old defendant denies this. So far, only one thing seems certain: Ali K. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
The accused appears calm in court. A young man, the sides of his head shaved, in torn jeans. He keeps the protective mask on during the trial and only takes it off for seconds to address the injured party: “Sorry. I’m sorry,” it comes out of him almost mechanically. He only looks the witness briefly in the face.
The lawyer Ruth Beer made a statement on behalf of her client: Ali K. suffered from the idea that his family had been killed by the Italian mafia and that his sister had been kidnapped. To get help, he went to the police in Laim in vain in March 2020. From April 23 to May 4, he was in voluntary inpatient treatment at the LMU clinic due to his psychological problems.
Six days later he took a long kitchen knife and decided to “take revenge on the Italian mafia”. Since mainly Christians are part of the Mafia, he specifically wanted to kill them. After his arrest, he told a police officer that he had absolutely wanted to steal a large Audi with a lot of horsepower in order to speed through the pedestrian zone between Marienplatz and Stachus. Lawyer Beer explains further that Ali K. has no contact with the so-called Islamic State and that he acted independently and spontaneously. According to the indictment, he wanted to hijack cars at the intersection of Zschokke and Lautensackstraße on May 10th in order to turn his plans into reality.
“He was crossing the street with other pedestrians and suddenly came up to our car,” said Leopold P. as a witness. He tried to open the driver’s door, but it was locked thanks to the automatic locking. When the stranger noticed that the door would not open, he yelled around in a foreign language and tried to break the side window with a hammer. “That was out of control,” says Leopold P. His wife in the passenger seat reacted hysterically. Since he was the first at the traffic lights, he simply accelerated and drove into the intersection when it was red. Ali K. hit three other cars, jerked the doors or stabbed the cars with an object. He himself claims that he only had a knife with him.
Matthias F. also tried frantically to lock his older car, but couldn’t find the button. So he drove to escape the attacker. Even more: After Ali K. was unsuccessful with other cars, he fled to Lautensackstrasse, Matthias F. clung to his heels. At a distance of ten meters he rolled after the pedestrian, past the car of a civil patrol who happened to be watching the area in a parking bay for a tire blower. When the street narrowed through a bollard, F. switched on the hazard warning lights, got out and followed the man on foot, who had a long knife in his waistband. The police became aware of the situation, got out, followed Ali K. and arrested him. “Today,” says Matthias F., “I wouldn’t do it that way anymore.”
Ali K. told a police officer that he thought it was good what the so-called Islamic State was doing – he wanted to carry out the attack for ISIS. An appraiser should now clarify whether Ali K. was diminished at the time of the crime or completely incapable of guilt. The 36-year-old is currently housed in a psychiatric clinic and, according to the attorney general’s office, should stay there “because he is dangerous for the general public”. A verdict is due to be pronounced next Wednesday.