Indictment Filed on Grounds of the Knife Attack at Mannheim’s Market Square

Year of issue 2024
Date 06.11.2024

On 25 October 2024, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against

Afghan national Sulaiman A.

before the State Security Chamber of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.

There are sufficient grounds to suspect the accused of murder and five counts of attempted murder (section 211 para. 2, sections 22, 23 para. 1 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]); the murder is considered to have been committed out of base motives and, in two cases, with perfidiousness. In the context of the attempted murders, the accused is also charged with bodily harm (section 223 para. 1, section 224 para. 1 no. 2 and no. 5 StGB).

In essence, the indictment sets out the following allegations:

Sulaiman A. harbours sympathies for the foreign terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ and shares its ideology. He decided to commit a terrorist attack against alleged non-believers in Germany no later than early May 2024. To this end, he went to Mannheim’s market square on 31 May 2024, where the association “Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa” (“BPE”) was preparing a rally to criticise Islam. Armed with a large hunting knife, the accused first abruptly stabbed BPE’s main speaker. He went on to injure four other individuals, who wanted to help the victim, by repeatedly stabbing them with great force. Ultimately, he lunged at a police officer who had rushed to the scene and stabbed him in the head and torso from behind. The police officer succumbed to the injuries. The other victims sustained partially serious and potentially life-threatening injuries.

On 3 June 2024, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office seized jurisdiction over the investigation proceedings, given the particular significance of the case (section 120 para. 2 pare. 1 no. 2 of the German Courts Constitution Act [GVG]). The accused has been in pre-trial detention since 18 June 2024 in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice. He had previously received intensive medical treatment for a gunshot wound sustained during the crime.