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On September 12, 2020, the first Islamist attack in Switzerland took place in Morges.
He is the first convicted Islamist terrorist in Switzerland: the 28-year-old Swiss-Turk who stabbed a Portuguese († 29) on September 12, 2020 in Morges VD. The perpetrator has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder.
Now the question suddenly arises as to whether the crime could have been prevented. As the French-speaking Swiss television RTS reported on Tuesday, the perpetrator should not have been at large.
Should have been in custody
In 2019, the man tried to blow up a gas station in Prilly VD – unsuccessfully. Even then, the investigators came across a possible jihadist background. Because of the attempted bomb attack, he was in custody until he was released in the summer of 2020 – three months before the murder in Morges.
However, under strict conditions: According to the RTS, the compulsory measures court ordered 16 measures, including a night curfew, an obligation to report and a ban on carrying a weapon. The agreement: If the man violated one of these conditions, he would be arrested again immediately.
The federal prosecutor was informed
However, this did not happen, although the Swiss-Turk failed to meet several conditions. According to previously unpublished documents cited by RTS, he only reported to the police four times instead of eight. He also failed to show up for work twice – he said he forgot to set his alarm clock or had sore muscles.
And yet he was not remanded in custody. This is despite the fact that the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (BA) – which is responsible for bomb attacks – was informed of the violations. And there were indications that the man was isolating and turning to Islamist ideology.
Police found will
For example, a month before the attack in Morges, the Vaud police found a handwritten will entitled “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful” in his apartment. He had been paid a visit because he was not fulfilling his requirements.
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had also been informed of this will. How she reacted to that remains to be seen. One thing is clear: the man was not put back into custody. And there are even more inconsistencies: Shortly after the Portuguese man’s murder, the BA stated that “no violation of the imposed alternative measures that would have justified renewed imprisonment” had been reported to her before the homicide.
Federal prosecutor is silent
When asked about the RTS research, the BA kept silent. She told CH Media that she could not answer any questions because of the pending criminal proceedings.
The matter is not over yet: The family of the murdered Portuguese is checking whether they can file a liability suit against the federal government because of these omissions. “There is a lot of misunderstanding among them,” the family’s lawyer told RTS. (sf)