Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Berliners offer thousands of euros to find suspect in brutal U-Bahn attack

Two private citizens have come forward, each offering thousands of euros in reward money to whoever can identify the man who kicked a woman down the stairs of a Berlin U-Bahn station.

Published: 12 December 2016 13:03 CET

Berliners offer thousands of euros to find suspect in brutal U-Bahn attack

Screenshot taken from video released by police.

The attack has gone viral since police last week shared CCTV footage, showing a man at Hermannstrasse U-Bahn station kicking a woman in the back, sending her tumbling down the stairs to land face-first on the platform below.

Berlin media report that the 26-year-old woman broke her arm during the fall.

The footage has been shared across social media and even been picked up by international press like Fox News and The Sun as police search for witnesses.

Though police have yet to identify the man responsible, they had received ten tips as of Monday, according to Tagesspiegel.

And now at least two private citizens are getting in on the hunt. A former bodyguard to celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Kuhr, wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he would pay a €2,000 “bounty” to anyone who could provide the name and address “of the bastard”.

Da kommt mir beim Frühstück die Galle hoch, wenn ich das lese! Ich bezahle ein “Kopfgeld” in Höhe von 2.000,- € für den…

Posted by Michael Kuhr Security on Sunday, December 11, 2016

“This makes my blood boil when I read this at breakfast,” Kuhr said in the message, along with a picture of him holding a newspaper about the attack.

An anonymous “prominent businessman” told tabloid BZ on Sunday that he was willing to spend a total of €10,000 to help the victim and find the perpetrator.

“I will donate €5,000 to the victim so that she can go on vacation and recover from the pain,” said the man, who himself has a daughter. He also said he would pay €5,000 to the person who could correctly identify the man in the video.

According to Tagesspiegel, police said on Monday that they still do not have concrete leads on the perpetrator or his acquaintances, who are shown in the video standing by during the attack.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

What we know so far about the alleged spies accused of plotting attacks in Germany for Russia

The pair, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J., were arrested in Bayreuth in the southeastern state of Bavaria on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The main accused, Dieter S., is alleged to have scouted potential targets for attacks, “including facilities of the US armed forces” stationed in Germany.

Russia’s ambassador to Berlin was summoned by the foreign ministry following the arrests.

Germany would not “allow Putin to bring his terror to Germany”, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock subsequently said on X.

But Russian officials rejected the accusations.

“No evidence was presented to prove the detainees’ plans or their possible connection to representatives of Russian structures,” the Russian embassy in Berlin said in a post on X.

Police have searched both men’s homes and places of work.

They are suspected of “having been active for a foreign intelligence service” in what prosecutors described as a “particularly serious case” of espionage.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser likewise called the allegations “a particularly serious case of suspected agent activity for (Vladimir) Putin’s criminal regime”.

“We will continue to thwart such threat plans,” she said, reiterating Germany’s steadfast support for Ukraine.

How US army facilities were targeted

“We can never accept that espionage activities in Germany take place,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

According to prosecutors, Dieter S. had been exchanging information with a person linked to Russian intelligence services since October 2023, discussing possible acts of sabotage.

“The actions were intended, in particular, to undermine the military support provided from Germany to Ukraine against the Russian aggression,” prosecutors said.

The accused allegedly expressed readiness to “commit explosive and arson attacks mainly on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany”.

Dieter S. collected information about potential targets, “including facilities of the US armed forces”.

Fellow accused Alexander J. began assisting him from March 2024, they added.

Dieter S. scouted potential targets by taking photos and videos of military transport and equipment. He then allegedly shared the information with his contact person.

Der Spiegel magazine reported that the military facilities spied on included the US army base in Grafenwoehr in Bavaria.

“Among other things, there is an important military training area there where the US army trains Ukrainian soldiers, for example on Abrams battle tanks,” Der Spiegel wrote.

Dieter S. faces an additional charge of belonging to a “foreign terrorist organisation”. Prosecutors said they suspect he was a fighter in an armed unit of eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed pro-Russian “People’s Republic of Donetsk” in 2014-2016.

Espionage showdown

Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of military aid, and news of the spy arrests came as Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck was on a visit to Kyiv.

“We will continue to provide Ukraine with massive support and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” Interior Minister Faeser said.

Germany has been shaken by several cases of alleged spying for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, amid suggestions that some German officials have been too sympathetic with Moscow in the past.

A former German intelligence officer is on trial in Berlin, accused of handing information to Moscow that showed Germany had access to details of Russian mercenary operations in Ukraine. He denies the charges.

In November 2022, a German man was handed a suspended sentence for passing information to Russian intelligence while serving as a German army reserve officer.

“We know that the Russian power apparatus is also focusing on our country — we must respond to this threat with resistance and determination,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said Thursday.

READ ALSO: Two Germans charged with treason in Russia spying case

Additionally, a man suspected of aiding a plot by Russian intelligence services to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been arrested in Poland, on Thursday, according to Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors.

It said the suspect had stated he was “ready to act on behalf of the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation and established contact with Russian citizens directly involved in the war in Ukraine”.

Russian authorities for their part have levelled treason charges against dozens of people accused of aiding Kyiv and the West since the invasion.

A Russian court sentenced a resident of Siberia’s Omsk region to 12 years in jail earlier this month for trying to pass secrets to the German government in exchange for help moving there.

Url copied to clipboard!