NRW Justice Minister Limbach rejects allegations in the Solingen investigative committee

NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) does not see himself cut off from important information within the state government. It was mutually decided to reduce the number of so-called WE reports about important events that had reached his house, Limbach told the state parliament's investigative committee on the Solingen terrorist attack.

He and his house should only receive reports that directly affect the judiciary. He had nothing wrong with that. He did not receive a WE report about the Solingen attack, but was woken up shortly before midnight by a call from the head of the responsible unit of the public prosecutor's office and then informed about the attack. From his point of view, this was the right path.

The work of the investigative committee gave rise to the impression that CDU-led ministries and the State Chancellery might have withheld important information from the Green Party-led ministries.

In the Islamist-motivated attack on August 23, 2024, the Syrian Issa al H. killed three people and injured eight people. The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Al H. actually should have been repatriated to Bulgaria a year earlier in accordance with the EU Dublin rules, but this failed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court in September 2025.

The state parliament's investigative committee is examining whether errors and omissions occurred before or during the attack.

On the sidelines of the meeting it became known that there was a major shake-up in the NRW Ministry of Justice. Limbach's office manager and confidante Sigrid Hellweg will be the new head of the corrections department and thus responsible for the country's prisons.

Ministry spokesman Lukas Kockmann will be the new office manager, as he confirmed. The previous head of the correctional department, Caroline Ströttchen, is retiring.