German authorities were in possession of information on the identity and fingerprints of the Afghan national accused of the rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl in Germany before November 2015, the Greek Justice and Citizen’s Protection Ministries said in a joint announcement on Thursday.
The announcement was issued after German authorities, who identified the suspect as a fugitive from Greek justice, criticized Greece for failing to issue an international arrest warrant when the Afghan violated the terms of his release from prison. The Afghan had been identified as the same man who attacked and attempted to murder a 20-year-old Greek student by pushing her off an eight-meter cliff in Corfu, for which he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison as a minor.
If Greece had issued an international arrest warrant, German authorities said, he would have been traced by German authorities in November 2015 when he applied for asylum.
The Greek ministries countered that German authorities had information on the suspect’s identity and also that his asylum request had been rejected in Greece but had not asked Greek authorities for more information.
The Afghan had applied for asylum in Greece in 2013, stating his age as 17. The request was rejected and all the information about him, including his finger prints, were entered into the Europe’s EURODAC database and were available to all other European countries where he might apply for asylum, the ministries noted.
In spite of this, when he applied for asylum in Germany in 2015, where he again gave his age as 17, he was added to a list of unaccompanied minors.
They also noted that the Afghan, who had been tried and sentenced to a juvenile prison as a minor in Greece, was released in accordance with legal provisions after serving two fifths of his sentence, while his release was revoked when he failed to report to the Greek police as required.
SOURCE: ANA-MPA
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