The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against Muharrem D., who was arrested in May and is accused of, among other things, a serious arson attack on a Turkish grocery shop in Waldkraiburg in Upper Bavaria.
This was announced by the prosecuting authority in Karlsruhe on Monday. The 25-year-old is accused of aggravated arson, multiple attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.
D. has Turkish parents. He was arrested on May the 8th and is alleged to have planned much more serious bomb attacks on the Ditib central mosque in the Cologne district of Ehrenfeld and on the Turkish Consulate General in Munich.
For the attack on the Cologne mosque, he wanted to use a bomb with high explosive power. He had not yet started making the bomb, the investigators said.According to the indictment, D. underwent a process of religious radicalisation since 2017 and became a follower of an Islamist-jihadist worldview as well as the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS). Because of Turkey’s stance in the Syrian conflict and its dealings with certain preachers in Turkey, he had become “a lasting hater of the Turkish state and people of Turkish origin”.Therefore, he had decided to carry out attacks on people of Turkish origin. For this purpose, he had obtained a semi-automatic pistol and the equipment for pipe bombs and explosives. With this, he made more than 45 kilogrammes of explosives, as well as 23 pipe bombs, which, however, lacked detonators.
Attempts to join the IS were unsuccessful. An attempted attack on the Sultan Ahmet Mosque in Waldkraiburg failed due to the locked door, and D. refrained from the other initially planned attacks on Ditib mosques.
Instead, he carried out attacks with a foul-smelling liquid based on butyric acid, first on a hairdressing salon and a pizzeria, and later on a Turkish restaurant.In the early hours of April the 27th 2020, D. gained access to a fruit and vegetable shop in Waldkraiburg and detonated an incendiary device made of gas cartridges, causing the salesroom to go up in flames.The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is of the opinion that he deliberately attempted to kill the 26 occupants of the house. Only because they noticed the fire in time, there were no people killed. However, four residents suffered smoke inhalation.In the course of his arrest on May the 8th 2020 and a subsequent house search, 23 pipe bombs, 23 kilograms of flash bang kit and several kilograms of explosive material were seized. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office brought its charges before the State Protection Senate of the Munich Higher Regional Court.