The suspect in the hit-and-run in Berlin was previously convicted of preparing a terrorist attack. he was sent to deradicalization courses. Abdul Balut had previously planned a terrorist act. According to Bild, he tried to travel to Syria in 2025, but was arrested in Lebanon and returned to Germany as a German citizen.
In May 2026, the Tiergarten District Court in Berlin sentenced Balut to one year and ten months in prison for preparing a serious crime against state security. The prosecution demanded two years and ten months and appealed the decision. While the appeal was being examined, the police temporarily followed the man, tapped his phone, he was at liberty, but he had to report to the surveillance officer once a week.
Balut also started attending deradicalization counseling. According to WELT, he voluntarily came to the meetings on June 15 and July 9, and the next meeting was scheduled for the day after the attack. In total, it was planned to assign him 26 such consultations.
After the attack, investigators found Balut's phone in the damaged van. Police continue to search for him across Europe and warn that the man may be armed and dangerous.
29 people were injured as a result of the attack, German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt announced, DW reports. Allegedly, the criminal attacked people with a machete. Among the victims, in addition to the wounded, there is also one dead woman.
The minister clarified that the suspect attacked passers-by with a machete after running over people with a car. The man is still on the run, and a large-scale operation is underway to arrest him at German railway stations, airports and borders. Dobrindt confirmed that we are talking about an Islamist terrorist act.
Earlier, the German mass media reported the arrest of a passenger who, presumably, was in the same car with Abdul B. at the time of the attack. According to Dobrindt, Abdul B. is a German citizen who was born here. Earlier, the court sentenced him to one year and ten months in prison for preparing an attack, but later the sentence was replaced by probation. the prosecutor's office appealed that decision.
