Synagogue in Hagen: suspect must be in custody

After the allegedly planned attack on the Hagen synagogue, the district court issued an arrest warrant on the urgent suspicion of a serious act of violence that was dangerous to the state. The 16-year-old suspect is in custody.

The 16-year-old arrested for alleged plans to attack the Hagen synagogue has to be remanded in custody. This was decided by a judge at the Hagen district court, as announced by the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office. Against him there is an urgent suspicion of preparing a serious state-endangering act of violence. The authority had applied for the arrest warrant.

The judge had come to the Hagen police headquarters that afternoon, where the youngster was brought before him, accompanied by his lawyer. He was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack.

The boy’s Hagen defense lawyer, Ihsan Tanyolu, had expected his client to be released early that morning. “No accusation has been substantiated that would justify that,” he told the dpa news agency on the question of a possible imprisonment of his client. In fact, the investigators had found neither bomb components nor an explosive device – neither in the 16-year-old nor in the vicinity of the synagogue.

Contact with alleged IS terrorist

The judge’s decision indicates, however, that the investigators have more than a vague hint from a friendly secret service. In fact, according to security circles, it should be the entire chat history of the 16-year-old with a suspected IS terrorist. The chat is supposed to prove that the young person not only had one-off, loose contact with the bomb-building expert via the Telegram messenger service, but also communicated with him over a longer period of time.

According to security circles, the youth had admitted to having had contact with the man, but vehemently denied any plans to attack the synagogue during his hour-long interrogation. In the chat, however, he himself brought up the synagogue as a target, said the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“Islamist Motivated Threat”

With searches and arrests, the police followed up on Thursday the “very serious and specific indication” that an attack on the Hagen synagogue had threatened on the highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. The reference suggests an “Islamistically motivated threat situation”, said NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). Electronic media such as cell phones and storage media were secured and evaluated.

The 16-year-old’s father and two brothers, who were also initially taken into custody by the police, were released on Thursday evening because there was no suspicion of them.

Central Council of Jews appalled

The possible thwarting of an attack caused horror in the Jewish community. “The incident brings back bad memories of the attack on Yom Kippur two years ago in Halle,” said the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster. He also thanked the police: “We thank the security authorities who apparently prevented an attack on the synagogue in Hagen.” On Yom Kippur two years ago, an armed right-wing extremist tried to forcefully break into the synagogue there in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt. When the door held out, he shot two people nearby and injured two others while trying to escape.

The former President of the Central Council, Charlotte Knobloch, stated that the alleged attempted attack showed again that “Jewish life without fear is still not possible in Germany, despite all the good words.” It is still unthinkable without police protection. “Anyone who is out and about with a kippah, who wears a Star of David chain or who goes to his synagogue on the evening of the highest Jewish holiday, is putting himself in danger – that is what many in the Jewish community now think,” said the President of the Jewish Community in Munich.