German prosecutors have filed charges against a man in connection with a fatal knife attack in the southwestern city of Mannheim, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The public prosecutor charged the man with murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm. The Senate must now decide whether to schedule a trial.
The man is accused of wounding five participants in a meeting of the Islamist movement Pax Europa and a police officer at a market square in Mannheim at the end of May. The police officer later died from his injuries.
Another police officer shot the attacker, who had to be taken to hospital where he underwent surgery.
He was arrested a few weeks later and has been in custody since mid-June.
The German prosecutor assumes that the attack was religiously motivated. Attorney General Jens Rommel said the suspects had resorted to mass violence, presumably to avoid criticism of Islam. He says he sees no connection with jihadism in the case.
The attacker, who is originally from Afghanistan, came to Germany as a teenager in 2013 and applied for asylum, which he was probably denied because of his age, dpa learned.
