German’s attorney general on Wednesday formally placed a suspected Islamist extremist under arrest, charging him with murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm with a knife .
The man acted on a radical Islamist motive when he stabbed two German tourists, one of them fatally, on Oct. 4, the public prosecutor general said in a statement.
“He wanted to exterminate the two victims as representatives of a liberal society which he rejects as ‘infidel,’’ the prosecutor added.
The 20-year-old Syrian suspect was captured on Oct. 20, and has been kept in pre-trial custody in Dresden since then, under an arrest warrant issued by a district court in the city.
Germany’s top public prosecutor took over the investigation the day after he was detained, once the suspected extremist nature of the attack emerged.
The victims, a 55-year-old man who died in hospital shortly after being stabbed, and a 53-year-old man who was seriously injured but survived, had been visiting Dresden’s baroque Old Town from the western state of North Rhine Westphalia when they were attacked.
The attacker was initially able to flee and the motive was not immediately clear. A knife was discovered at the scene.
The man now in custody, is being known to German authorities as an Islamist for years.
He has been granted temporary shelter pending deportation since 2015.
He was released from prison for young offenders only days before the stabbing.(dpa/NAN)