The eXXpress was already getting to the bottom of the question of how 23-year-old Rasuili Z. was able to run into a refugee boat with a false name in the United Kingdom almost four weeks after the fact, unnoticed, and who helped him with it.
The Afghan Z. was arrested by British police in an Ibis hotel ten days after his entry, on July 29, 2021. Before his arrest he had lived there for two weeks at the expense of the British taxpayer and applied for asylum under a false name.
On July 29th, the Austrian judiciary filed an extradition request, but the Afghan’s lawyer disapproved. At today’s hearing in London, attorney Ben Keith appealed his extradition under Section 12A of the 2003 Extradition Act, claiming that Rasuili Z. has “not yet been charged or tried” in Austria. The Afghan spoke in court only through a Farsi interpreter, was flanked by a judicial officer and also refused to wear a mask when the rape charge and another of serious sexual abuse were read out against a person under the age of 14.
Seven months after the murder of 13-year-old Leonie, there are still no charges in Austria – against any of the alleged perpetrators. Z., a suspected murderer and rapist, cannot be extradited that long. According to the British court, he is accused of having forced Leonie to “take seven (!) Extasy tablets. Then he raped her like his three accomplices. He then grabbed and choked the victim until it could no longer breathe and suffocated. Then the body was rolled up in a carpet and placed next to a road a hundred yards from the crime scene. “The verdict on extradition to Austria is scheduled for January 12th.
