Greece says information of Afghan murder suspect available to German authorities last year

Fingerprints and other details of the Afghan suspect held in custody for the October rape and killing of a Greek student in Germany were available to German authorities about a year ago, the Greek Justice and Public Order ministries said in a joint statement on Thursday night.

The announcement came in response to criticism by German officials that the Greek side failed to issue an international arrest warrant when the asylum seeker violated the terms of his release from a Greek prison.

Hussein K. has been identified as the same person who attacked and attempted to murder a 20-year-old Greek student by pushing her off an 8 meter cliff on Corfu island in 2013.

The then 17-year-old was sentenced to 10 years in prison as a minor and was released on probation in 2015 on condition he regularly reports to a local police station.

However, Hussein K. fled and managed to arrive in Germany. German authorities said if Greece had issued an international arrest warrant, he would have been traced when he applied asylum in Germany in November 2015.

The Greek ministries noted that information about the Afghan suspect, including his identity, fingerprints and the Greek rejection to his asylum request, had been uploaded on Europe's EURODAC database and was available to all European countries. Endi