A terror warning has been in effect for Cologne Cathedral since Christmas and the cathedral is no longer accessible to tourists. A suspect caught on Christmas Eve will not be released.
The public prosecutor’s office in Cologne wants to submit an application for extradition detention for a man arrested in connection with the terrorist alarm for Cologne Cathedral. This was announced by a spokesman. The application will be submitted to the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Cologne. It is the first step in a multi-stage process that could end with the man’s transfer to Austria. There is an arrest warrant for the 30-year-old in Germany’s neighboring country.
The permissibility of detention pending extradition is being examined, said the spokesman. For example, if the Higher Regional Court denies this during the course of the proceedings, then the man should theoretically be released immediately. The whole process could take a total of “a few weeks”.
Taken into custody “to avert danger.”
The 30-year-old Tajik was taken into custody on Christmas Eve 2023 in Wesel on the Lower Rhine “to avert danger”. Shortly beforehand, the police had received information about a possible attack scenario at Cologne Cathedral. According to the Cologne police, they were referring to New Year’s Eve and the turn of the year. In addition to the tip-off about the possible attack plan in Cologne, security authorities had also received a tip-off before Christmas about a possible planned attack on a church in Vienna.
On Sunday, the Cologne police announced that there was now a European arrest warrant from Austria against the man, who is being held in the Cologne correctional facility. According to the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, the arrest warrant was issued for suspected terrorism. The measure is related to suspects arrested in Vienna. As the dpa learned, the 30-year-old is said to have been in the Austrian capital and taken photos of the possible attack target.
In Vienna, the pre-trial detention for two suspects was extended by four weeks on Monday due to the “risk of escape, concealment and commission of a crime”, as a spokeswoman for the regional court announced. The 29-year-old Tajik and his 27-year-old Turkish wife are being investigated for involvement in a terrorist organization in connection with a terrorist crime. Another man, who was also arrested in Vienna, was released on Friday after urgent suspicions against him were not confirmed.
