The German government pledged Friday to investigate the deportation of a Tunisian man shortly after the deadly 2016 truck rampage on a Berlin Christmas market, but denied media reports that authorities had tried to cover up his possible involvement in the attack.
German weekly Focus reported Friday that Bilel Ben Ammar was arrested days after the market attack and deported to Tunisia a month later, despite having frequent contacts with the attacker.
Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri killed 12 people in the market attack, which was later claimed by the Islamic State group. Amri fled the scene, dying in a shootout with police in Italy days after the attack. Ben Ammar's current whereabouts are unknown.
FILE - In this file photo, issued by German federal police on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri is shown, who was responsible for the fatal attack on the Christmas market in Berlin on Dec. 19, 2016. The German government has rejected media reports claiming authorities sought to cover up the involvement of a second man in the deadly 2016 truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market by deporting him.(German police via AP)
German Interior Ministry spokeswoman Eleonore Petermann told reporters in Berlin that deportations "are carried out according to the rule of law and certainly not in order to cover anything up."
Still, Petermann said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has ordered a probe into the circumstances of the deportation, which he only learned about on Friday.
Opposition lawmakers said they want to question Ben Ammar as part of a parliamentary investigation into the attack.
FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2016 file photo firefighters look at the debris after the trailer has been towed away from the crime scene in Berlin, Germany, one the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed several people. The German government has rejected media reports claiming authorities sought to cover up the involvement of a second man in the deadly 2016 truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market by deporting him. (AP PhotoMarkus Schreiber, file)
Green party lawmaker Konstantin von Notz said there's evidence Ben Ammar and Amri met the night before the attack and spoke over the phone on the day it happened.
"The question arises, was he just a witness? Was he an accessory? Or was he a co-conspirator?" von Notz told reporters, adding there are doubts that Amri acted alone.
Focus reported that Ben Ammar was an agent for Morocco's intelligence service and that the German government may have tried to deport him to avoid him being prosecuted. The magazine claimed that a video, so far kept under wraps by authorities, shows a man who looks like Ben Ammar helping Amri flee the scene of the attack.
Von Notz said lawmakers haven't been able to obtain such a video. Petermann, the ministry spokeswoman, denied knowledge of its existence.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.
Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.
“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”
“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.
The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.
Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.
Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.
The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.
Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.
In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.
Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.
Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
