More than four years after the racist attack in Hanau The current police chief of Southeast Hesse, Daniel Muth, has publicly apologized to the victims’ relatives. He is following the example of the current Interior Minister, Roman Poseck (CDU), who took this step in June. “I join in this apology,” Muth told the “Frankfurter Rundschau” (Wednesday).
“We made mistakes in dealing with the victims and their relatives,” he continued. In the case of a politically motivated attack, “a so-called state situation should have been triggered in the State Criminal Police Office, in which the management of the situation was handed over to a particularly experienced police leader and his command staff“, Muth is quoted as saying. “That didn’t happen back then.”
On February 19, 2020, a 43-year-old German man shot dead nine people in Hanau for racist reasons. Then he killed his mother and himself. An investigative committee of the Hessian state parliament had looked into the crime and made 60 recommendations for action in its 750-page final report – a large part of which falls under the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.
Neither the then Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) nor the then President of the South East Hesse Police Headquarters had admitted any errors by the police during the operation. The South East Hesse Police Headquarters, based in Offenbach, is also responsible for Hanau.
“We have identified the mistakes that were made back thenfor example when delivering the news of the death,” Muth continued in the interview. “The victims’ relatives described very vividly what it did to them, not knowing whether their relatives were dead, alive, or where they were. That must have been very difficult for them to bear.”
The February 19th Initiative, which brings together relatives of the victims and other people affected by the attack as well as supporters, has repeatedly accused the police of making mistakes during the operation. It has also criticized the fact that no one took political responsibility after the attack and that there were no consequences. (dpa)
