Waldkraiburg attacker sentenced to psychiatric ward

A German court on Friday sentenced a supporter of the Islamic State (IS) group to 9 1/2 years in prison. However, it committed him to psychiatric detention over a series of arson attacks, finding the defendant suffered from schizophrenia.

The accused, identified as German citizen of Kurdish descent, Muharrem D., had admitted to carrying out attacks against Turkish businesses and a mosque in the Bavarian town of Waldkraiburg in April 2020.

The most notable act was an arson attack on a Turkish supermarket, which was completely destroyed, also endangering the lives of the 26 residents of the apartment complex above the shop.

He had also targeted a hair salon, kebab shop, pizzeria and a local mosque.

Although no lives were lost, four people suffered from smoke inhalation during the supermarket fire.

The higher regional court in Munich found the 27-year-old guilty of serious arson, 31 counts of attempted murder and of planning further attacks with a gun and explosives.

A Kurdish 'Islamic State fighter'?

The case attracted attention in part because Kurdish populations were best known for leading the fight against the so-called Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria, while the Kurdish German defendant identified himself as an IS supporter.

Schizophrenia had played a role in fueling the attacks last year, presiding judge Jochen Boesl told the Munich Higher Regional Court on Friday.

"Without the schizophrenia, the attacks by the accused would have been unthinkable," said Judge Jochen Boesl.  But they also not have happened without the accused's rapid "Islamist-jihadist" radicalization, the judge said.

The defendant had radicalized himself in a very short time and had come to have a "pronounced jihadist world view." This had manifested itself primarily in the form of a "hatred of Turks," the judge said.

"He saw himself as an IS fighter," said Boesl. "He has seen Sharia law as the only legitimate basis for coexistence." The judge said the convicted man had "developed a bizarre-seeming private ideology or private religion" whose central component had been a hatred of all Turkish people. Although Kurdish people hope for an independent state made up of territory spanning several countries, their conflict with authorities in Turkey is probably the most renowned.

Muharrem D. was arrested in May of last year, for the crimes which shook the Turkish community in Waldkraiburg. He admitted during his trial that he had planned to attack other mosques, along with the Turkish consulate in Munich.

People with ties to IS have committed several violent attacks in Germany, including an attack on a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, which left 12 people dead.

lc,jc/msh (dpa, AFP)