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TRAGEDY IN WINNENDEN

CRIME

Köhler attacks virtual violence at massacre memorial service

Speaking at the memorial church service in Winnenden, German President Horst Köhler spoke out against ultra-violent computer games and films, calling for the political world and society in general to reject them.

Köhler attacks virtual violence at massacre memorial service
Photo: DPA

“Does a normal human understanding not tell us that a continual consumption of such products causes damage?” he asked during his speech. “This kind of market development should be stopped.”

Köhler sat in the Catholic St. Borromäus church in the Baden-Württemberg town where ten days ago Tim Kretschmer began the massacre in which he shot dead 15 people, including nine children at his former school, before killing himself.

Detectives working on the case have said that the evening before the massacre Kretschmer played the violent shooter game “Far Cry” on his computer for at least two hours. His father had kept more than a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the house. Kretschmer took a pistol and around 200 rounds from his home when he went on his killing spree.

“All of Germany mourns with you,” Köhler told the assembled locals. He was joined by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the entire Baden-Württemberg state government.

While white candles with the names of those killed were carried to the front of the church, Köhler also mentioned the death of Kretschmer himself. “A young person has killed 15 others, and then himself,” he said. “He plunged families into sorrow and desperation – his own too. They too have lost a child. For them too a world has collapsed.”

Winnenden town centre was mostly closed down for the service, and the thousands of people who gathered to take part in, or watch, the church memorial.

Initial expectations that up to 100,000 people would show up were quickly revised, and in the end the police said around 7,500 people came to pay their respects Some gathered in the seven other nearby communities where the victims had lived.

GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Germany and the Czech Republic on Friday blamed Russia for a series of recent cyberattacks, prompting the European Union to warn Moscow of consequences over its "malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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