A Syrian migrant arrested in Germany on suspicion of raping a teenage girl was released after just 40 days in pre-trial detention and later accused of raping another woman, local media reported on Thursday.

In the wake of the latter episode, the man went into hiding but was eventually captured by the authorities several months later. He was subsequently convicted of raping the teenager and is still standing trial over the second allegation.

The 26-year-old, identified by Bild as Ahmad A., was initially apprehended in late February 2025 over the rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Munich asylum center. However, the teenager could not undergo judicial questioning in time due to her psychological condition.

The delay prompted the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office to request the suspect’s release in early April. Bild quoted prosecutor Juliane Grotz as saying that continued detention would have violated the “principle of expedited proceedings in detention cases” and would have been “no longer proportionate.”

Without the victim’s testimony, authorities could not determine how much longer the investigation would take, they told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

In July 2025, Ahmad A., who was required to report to police twice a week and barred from approaching the teenage victim, allegedly lured a 29-year-old woman to a secluded location, where he and two Yemeni nationals took turns raping her.

Police arrested the suspects in September 2025, with Ahmad A. subsequently convicted of raping the 16-year-old girl. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in November 2025.

The trial over the alleged rape of the 29-year-old woman is still underway, with the next hearing scheduled for October 27.

Ahmad A. maintains that the sexual encounter was consensual, Bild reported, citing his lawyer.

Also in Munich, local police reported in June that they had arrested two young Syrian migrants on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old German woman they had met at a nightclub.

There have been multiple similar cases involving migrants across Germany in recent years.

Under former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-border policies, more than a million people arrived in Germany from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq at the height of the 2015 immigrant influx. In recent years, the country has also granted temporary protection to an estimated 1.2 million Ukrainians. Germany ranks as the European Union’s top destination for migrants and the world’s third-largest refugee-hosting country, according to UN data.

Amid rising crime rates and a series of terrorist attacks perpetrated by migrants, public discontent with the German government’s handling of illegal immigration has been steadily growing.

The opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which advocates stricter immigration controls, has consistently polled as the country’s most popular party in recent months. According to a recent INSA survey, the AfD enjoys the support of 30% of respondents – 12 percentage points ahead of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling CDU/CSU bloc.