Germany: Afghan suspect in slaying assaulted woman in Greece

BERLIN – An Afghan asylum-seeker suspected of raping and killing a 19-year-old university student in Freiburg was also convicted of attempting to kill another woman in Greece but was released early from prison, Germany’s top security official said Thursday.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said fingerprints taken from Hussein K. matched prints from the 2013 crime on the Greek island of Corfu.

K., who gave his age as 17, is in custody for the killing of medical student Maria L. in October.

A Greek court sentenced K. to 10 years in prison for attempted murder in 2013, but released him on probation 1 1/2 years later on condition he regularly report to a local police station. After he failed to do so, Greek authorities issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest but didn’t alert other European countries.

De Maiziere said had Greece done so, K. would have been arrested in Germany when he applied for asylum there.

“This is a very troublesome incident,” he told reporters in Berlin. “We will certainly take this up with the Greek side.”

De Maiziere said the case highlighted the need to combine different European databases used to store information on migration and crime.