Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - The investigative committee of the Hessian state parliament on the racist attack in Hanau questioned the mayor of the city, Claus Kaminsky (SPD), at its meeting on Monday (9.30 a.m.). The topic of the meeting is again an emergency exit at one of the crime scenes, which was closed at the time. Survivors and relatives of the victims had therefore raised allegations against the authorities because a possible escape route was closed.
The public prosecutor's office had meanwhile investigated because of the locked emergency exit in the Arena Bar. The authority justified the termination of its proceedings in August 2021 by saying that there was no concrete evidence that police officers or employees of the public order office had ordered or tolerated the door being locked. It is also unclear whether two of the victims could have escaped through an unlocked emergency exit.
At the meeting of the committee of inquiry in the Wiesbaden state parliament, the head of the city's building department should also be heard as a witness on the subject of emergency exits. He and Mayor Kaminsky were originally supposed to speak at the committee meeting on October 14, but their statements were postponed due to time constraints.
A 43-year-old German shot nine people with racist motives in Hanau on February 19, 2020. Then he killed his mother and himself. The investigative committee should clarify whether there were any errors by the authorities around the crime.
