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- According to an SRF investigation, the man against whom the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (BA) has opened criminal proceedings is a 26-year-old Swiss-Turkish citizen from the Lausanne region.
- He is suspected of stabbing a man in Morges (VD) on Saturday. Today the BA announced that it had taken over the investigation because a possible terrorist motive could not be ruled out.
- The suspect was arrested Sunday. Swiss security authorities have known him for several years, not least because of his connections to the Islamist scene in Switzerland.
The victim is a 29-year-old Portuguese who went to a kebab shop with his partner in Morges (VD) on Saturday night. There he was stabbed by an unknown person, according to the media in western Switzerland.
Now, SRF’s investigation shows who the unknown suspect is apparently: a 26-year-old known Islamist from metropolitan Lausanne from a Turkish family.
Connections with Islamists
The suspect is said to be connected to various Islamists. The Attorney General’s Office is investigating whether the act for which it is suspected was carried out for jihadist motives. In any case, this does not rule it out based on your notice. There are no further comments from the BA.
The man’s connections to the Swiss Islamist milieu are an aspect that the Swiss authorities have apparently known about since 2017 at the latest. The other side apparently is a man’s mental disorder. A combination that could have been fatal, but has yet to be fully clarified.
Responsible for the arson?
However, according to an SRF investigation, the man has not only drawn attention for his Islamist connections and, according to the BA, he is therefore also known to the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB), but also to at least one other crime for which it is suspected.
This is apparently an arson attempt at a gas station in the spring of 2019 in western Switzerland. According to the investigation, he was later taken into custody, which appears to have been extended several times, but ended in the summer of this year. The man was reportedly released in July 2020.
Neither the BA nor the NDB wanted to comment on this investigation Monday night. Both criminal proceedings, the one in 2019 and the one recently opened, have not concluded, the presumption of innocence is applied.
It is already becoming clear that the case should still be something to talk about: not only because, if the jihadist motivation is confirmed, this would be the first terrorist attack on Swiss soil in a long time, but also because of a particularly tragic circumstance for relatives. of the victims. : Apparently, after the defendant was released from prison in July, admission to a psychiatric clinic was planned. Why this didn’t happen is open.
