- Investigation into the attack on Giffey completed
About three months after an attack on Berlin's Senator for the Economy, Franziska Giffey (SPD), the public prosecutor's office has completed its investigations and handed the case over to the Berlin Regional Court. In a so-called secure procedure, judges will decide on the detention of the suspected perpetrator in a psychiatric hospital.
According to the public prosecutor's office, there are indications that the 74-year-old committed the act in a state of non-responsibility, meaning he cannot be punished for it.
According to the investigation, the man struck Giffey with a heavy bag on the head and neck on May 7 in the Gertrud-Haß-Bibliothek in Berlin-Rudow. The senator suffered severe pain for two days. The public prosecutor's office considers this a dangerous bodily harm.
The suspected perpetrator was arrested less than 24 hours later.
Giffey had visited the library in the Alt-Rudow district in the south of Berlin and was, according to her own statements, engrossed in her conversation with the head of the institution. Suddenly, she felt a hard blow to her head and neck from behind.
Less than 24 hours later, police arrested the 74-year-old as the suspected perpetrator. He was already known to the police due to findings in the area of hate crime, it was reported at the time.
The Berlin Regional Court will now consider the detention of the suspected perpetrator in a psychiatric hospital, as decided by The Commission of judges in the secure procedure. Despite the evidence of his actions, the 74-year-old may not be punished due to indications that he committed the attack in a state of non-responsibility, as acknowledged by The Commission in the public prosecutor's office's report.
