Nehammer: single offender theory confirmed by videos – horror in Vienna –

The more than 20,000 videos sent to the police have been fully evaluated, the single offender theory has been confirmed, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said at a press conference on Wednesday. Nehammer also admitted that errors appeared to have been made in sending information to BVT about a failed purchase of ammunition from Slovakia.

Interior Minister Nehammer admitted at the press conference that the Slovak secret service had informed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism (BVT) about the attempted purchase of ammunition by the attacker 20-year-old Viennese terrorist, but “obviously something went wrong in the following communication measures.” The minister now wants to create an independent inquiry commission. The highest level of security for Vienna remains in effect, the APA learned from the Interior Ministry.

As the police announced Wednesday, two foreigners are among the four killed. They are a 24-year-old German and a 21-year-old Macedonian. In addition, a 39-year-old Austrian and a 44-year-old Austrian died. A total of 13 other victims were gunshot wounds. Twelve of the 23 injured have already been discharged, three are still in intensive care units and eight in normal wards.

Investigators, however, used traces of the killer in Switzerland and Slovakia. In Switzerland, two people were arrested Tuesday in Winterthur who are said to have been in close contact with the attacker. As confirmed by the Zurich prosecutor, the 18 and 24-year-old is involved in a terrorist process. These were opened in 2018 and 2019 and are currently still in operation. However, in direct relation to the attack in Vienna, to date there are no procedures. It was open if preventive detention would be requested.

The second front of the investigation refers to the attempt to purchase ammunition by the 20-year-old in Slovakia. Slovak police confirmed this in a Facebook post on Wednesday. The attempt failed. According to the Slovak police, the Austrian colleagues were informed immediately afterwards. In any case, the Judiciary did not receive any information about the incident, as the head of the section of individual criminal matters of the Ministry of Justice, Barbara Göth-Flemmich, highlighted this Wednesday to the newspaper Ö1 lunch. According to the StA Vienna, the magazine’s prosecutor was not informed of this until the night of the attack.

Göth-Flemmich rejected the information that the killer would have been in prison had he not been released prematurely. Even if he had served the full 22 months to which he was sentenced in April 2019 in a terrorist trial as an ISIS sympathizer, he would have been released by mid-July at the latest. Because the length of detention in Turkey had to be counted against the prison sentence, where he was arrested in September 2018 while trying to join the terrorist militia and then extradited to Austria.

In the run-up to the National Security Council, which met in the afternoon, the opposition was mainly faced with the attempted purchase of ammunition in Slovakia and the authorities apparently did not react to the Slovak police report. SPÖ club boss Jörg Leichtfried and security spokesman Reinhold Einwallner were “stunned” in a broadcast that the Interior Ministry should have been informed of an attempted purchase of ammunition by the later assassin in Slovakia. NEOS MP Douglas Hoyos, meanwhile, called for the establishment of an independent inquiry commission, the FPÖ demanded more rigor in its action against radical Islam.

The FPÖ also accuses Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) of “misinformation” in relation to the terrorist attack. Contrary to the statements of the minister and his senior officials, the perpetrator and his entourage were under observation of constitutional protection, said the club’s president, Herbert Kickl. The question arises as to why the protection of the Constitution has not been “ingrained long ago.” In his opinion, the attack could have been prevented.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Kickl referred to two covert investigation operations under the names “ANSA” and “ZULU.” The first would have started in early 2020 and served to monitor the Islamist scene in Vienna “including the subsequent attacker.” “Therefore, he was back on the radar for constitutional protection shortly after his release from prison,” Kickl said.

The second “ZULU” operation was on an Islamist group in the St. Pölten area. “There were also house searches there quickly” (the day after the attack).

Kickl wondered why, with these findings, no attempt was made to revoke the parole. Because the information would have shown that the de-radicalization did not take place. A deradicalized “certainly wouldn’t try to get ammunition for an assault rifle anywhere.” “The question arises whether this attack could not have been prevented with a responsible approach on the part of those responsible. From our point of view, that is the case ”.

Furthermore, Kickl locates a treason within the Office for the Protection of the Constitution: in the early hours of the morning of November 3, a day after the attack, a major operation was supposed to have been scheduled under the code name ” RAMSES “which included numerous house searches on the Islamist scene. This was also why massive police forces gathered in the city center on Monday, Kickl said.

“You can believe a coincidence, I don’t think about that,” Kickl said. The question for him is whether this raid could have been betrayed. If the allegations are upheld, then Interior Minister Nehammer is ready to resign, he said.