BERLIN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi citizen who was named as a suspect during investigations into the widely publicized Chemnitz murder case in Germany has been released from police custody again, the Chemnitz State Prosecution Office told press on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the prosecutors said that an arrest warrant issued earlier against the 22-year-old asylum seeker had been lifted due to a lack of evidence suggesting his direct involvement in a violent brawl in which a 35-year-old man suffered lethal injuries.
Although he was consequently no longer seen as the likely murderer of Daniel H., a German citizen and local resident of Chemnitz with Cuban roots, however, investigations into the suspect would continue.
According to his attorney Ulrich Dost-Roxin and an eyewitness questioned by police, the suspect stood several meters removed from the incident which took place three weeks ago. Neither police nor state prosecutors have offered any detailed information on the exact events which led to the death of Daniel H. so far.
All that is known is that the victim died from knife wounds sustained during the "Chemnitz City Festival" in which at least three asylum seekers are being treated as primary suspects. The case sparked a series of widely-publicized far-right marches where some protestors chased and accosted foreign-looking civilians on the streets of the East German town.
Dost-Roxin has publicly complained that the arrest warrant against his client included "no evidence whatsoever" to demonstrate his culpability. The attorney criticized that the suspect should hence never have been remanded in custody and filed a legal request for the asylum seeker to be released again which has now been granted.
Commenting on the latest development, Dost-Roxin described the original assertion that the Iraqi asylum seeker was involved in the killing as a "fantasy of the state prosecution."
Unlike the Iraqi citizen, a 23-year-old Syrian suspect will continue to be remanded in custody in connection to the murder of Daniel H. A further Iraqi citizen, who is also 22 years old and whose whereabouts are currently unknown, is still wanted by police as a suspect in the case.
