The German government has pledged to review the sentences of terror-related crimes after it was revealed that the perpetrator of the deadly van attack in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, 27 July, was out on a suspended sentence at the time of his deadly crime.
21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen of Lebanese origin, killed a 65-year-old Polish woman and injured 29 others after he ran a rented minivan into the crowd at a Pride Parade in Berlin, then got out of the vehicle and started slashing at people with a large machete.
He was shot dead by police after he was eventually tracked down at the end of a 20-hour manhunt.
In the aftermath, German press learnt that Ballout was actually convicted of a terror-related crime in May. He was found guilty of planning a terror attack by a German court. However, the judge suspended his 22-month prison sentence after his conviction.
The perpetrator of the Berlin terror attack was known as a sympathizer of the Islamist terror group ISIS by the authorities, who also spread jihadist propaganda on his public Instagram page. He reportedly was even attempting to travel to Syria to join the terror group, but was stopped.
What’s more, the Berlin terrorist had been arrested and sentenced by a military court in Lebanon for incitement to religious and sectarian conflict, before being deported to Germany by the Lebanese government.
The judge who handed down the suspended sentence reportedly cited the three months Ballout had already served in Lebanon, along with six months of pre-trial detention in Germany, as factors that influenced the decision. The prosecution has appealed for a harsher sentence, but the perp was allowed to be released with the appeal pending.
Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt of Germany has spoken up on the issue, saying, ‘It is certainly incomprehensible that, given the level of danger involved in this case, a suspended sentence was imposed,’ as quoted by the British newspaper Telegraph.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz focused his criticism on law enforcement rather than on the judicial system giving Ballout his lenient sentence.
‘I cannot understand how I can track my mobile phone from anywhere in the world—or even use it to determine the location of my iPad, for instance—yet it is supposedly impossible, or technically unfeasible, for security authorities in Germany to determine the whereabouts of individuals classified as security threats to that same extent,’ he stated.
Following Saturday’s attack, German authorities are reassessing the country’s approach to suspended prison sentences.
Federal ministers and police representatives have proposed a series of legal changes, including amending Section 56 of the German Criminal Code to prevent individuals convicted of terrorism or extremist offences from receiving suspended sentences. They want similar restrictions incorporated into the Youth Courts Act as well, ensuring that terrorism-related offenders cannot avoid prison regardless of the length of their sentence.
In addition, officials are calling for changes to pre-trial detention rules so that terror suspects remain behind bars while prosecutors challenge court rulings.
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