Brokstedt attacker breaks the silence and wants to testify about the knife attack

According to his defense attorney, around two months after a knife attack on a train in Schleswig-Holstein, the suspect wants to break his previous silence towards the investigating authorities. As the "Spiegel" reported on Friday, the 33-year-old Ibrahim A. will not deny the crime, according to his lawyer. His client will also "make a statement about the circumstances," the defense attorney told the magazine.

A., who had just been released from custody for about a year, had stabbed other passengers with a knife on a moving regional train near Brokstedt on January 25. Two young people aged 17 and 19 died and five other people were injured, some of them critically. A. was overpowered and has since been in custody on suspicion of murder and attempted manslaughter.

According to the authorities, the suspect was without a permanent address and has already been prosecuted several times in the past. He comes from Palestine and has lived in Germany since 2014. The case sparked a debate about deporting foreign offenders.

According to "Spiegel", the state of health of the 33-year-old is currently being examined by an expert. According to his lawyer, there are doubts about his criminal responsibility. As the magazine reported, citing investigators, A. actually had cocaine, morphine and methadone in his blood. He is said to have acted "suddenly and without a word" during the act and, according to a witness, had previously made a confused impression.

On Friday, the state parliament in Kiel also dealt with the consequences of the assassination for security in public spaces. Hamburg had recently stated that it wanted to take a closer look at the behavior of certain groups of people in custody in order to derive possible consequences for the release management.