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German officials: Anis Amri used at least 14 identities | |||||
2017-01-06 | |||||
[DeutscheWelle] Authorities in North-Rhine Westphalia have been scrutinized over their handling of Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri during the time he lived in the state. Despite concerning observations, they could not detain him.
Speaking before a special meeting of the state's parliamentary interior committee, Jäger explained that "thorough, close observation" had failed to provide concrete evidence of an imminent threat.
According to a report presented to the NRW committee, Amri was known to police under 14 different aliases. "The attack was carried out by a man whom security officials across Germany were very well aware of," Jäger told regional politicians. He added, however, that "in a constitutional state, we can't simply lock up threats as a precautionary measure."
Amri had long been on Germany's list of potentially violent Islamist bully boys. He arrived in the country in 2015 and had been based mainly in NRW. Local immigration authorities there had rejected his application for asylum and tried in vain to deport him.
The NRW opposition rejected that explanation, saying it was incomprehensible that someone considered a threat could move freely around Germany and carry out an attack. Ahead of the special meeting, Gregor Golland of the state-level opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) blasted the regional government for what he described as its "blatant failure" and "misjudgment" in the Amri case. Opportunity for change Jäger told politicians there was a need for legal reforms to make it easier for police to detain individuals who posed a potential danger to the public and who had no prospect of remaining in Germany.
"We must and we will draw the necessary lessons from this terrible event," he said. | |||||
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