The man suspected of driving a van into a crowd at Berlin Pride, killing a Polish woman and injuring at least 29 others, was free despite a suspended sentence for preparing an act of violence linked to Islamic State — prompting anger and questions over why he was not in prison.
Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese heritage, had been sentenced in May this year to one year and ten months for “preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state”. The Berlin court suspended the sentence and placed him under the supervision of a probation officer, while prosecutors appealed for a longer term.
“Suspect Abdul Ballout killed by police after Berlin Pride attack that left one dead and 29 injured.”
On Saturday night, Ballout drove a white van into a crowd near Tiergarten park just before 10pm, then carried out a stabbing attack. He fled, triggering a massive manhunt. Police shot him dead on Sunday in the western borough of Spandau after he rushed at officers with a knife.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the suspended sentence as “certainly incomprehensible given the level of danger involved in this case”. Berlin’s governing mayor, Kai Wegner, said he was “dumbstruck” at the judiciary’s handling of the case. “I don’t want to pass judgement on that – that’s the independence of the judiciary – but I’m really at a loss for words,” Wegner told RBB TV.
Ballout’s criminal record included a 2020 robbery of headphones and a 2022 assault and robbery conviction. In 2025 he travelled to Lebanon, where he was arrested and sentenced to three months for incitement to religious and sectarian conflict after trying to join Islamic State in Syria. On returning to Germany in November 2025, he was arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport and held in pre-trial detention until his court appearance this spring.
According to Der Spiegel, Ballout had told the court he had distanced himself from extremist ideology. Dobrindt said authorities were investigating how the suspended sentence was allowed. Germany’s threat level has been raised, and other states have been advised to review security for major events.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited the scene in Tiergarten on Sunday and pledged to defend “the freedom and openness of our lives”. The far-right AfD’s home affairs spokesperson, Martin Hess, demanded a thorough investigation into why Ballout was able to move freely.
For many Berliners, the question remains: why was a man known to police as a radicalised Islamist with multiple convictions allowed to walk the streets?
