Overview
- The Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Düsseldorf has filed charges accusing the unnamed 16-year-old of supporting the Islamic State and planning a fire attack on a church in Hamm.
- Prosecutors say he communicated by messenger with an IS member and later discussed attack scenarios with another person, including agreeing to a church arson plot.
- Investigators allege he followed concrete instructions to reconnoitre the church, bought a drone as part of planning, and tried in March 2026 to blow up a hunting stand with New Year’s rockets.
- A forensic psychiatric expert concluded the youth’s capacity for insight was markedly reduced due to mental illness, and he is held under an Unterbringungshaftbefehl in a psychiatric hospital.
- The Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf will now decide whether to admit the indictment to main trial, a ruling that will determine how juvenile criminal and security law apply in cases involving serious mental illness.