Diversity is our strength

The Eritrean refugee charged with killing a child by pushing him in front of a train was a ‘poster boy’ for successful integration in Switzerland.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer had said during a news conference that the suspect, who is accused of fatally pushing an eight-year-old boy in front of a moving train in Frankfurt on Monday, had been considered “an example of successful integration” and was “mentioned in publications” in Switzerland.

Zurich prosecutors confirmed to German news magazine Focus that Habte Araya, 40, had been in psychiatric treatment since 2019 and had not worked for a year. Prior to that, he had worked for several years at transport companies in the Swiss capital and two years ago, was portrayed as a model of integration in a publication of the Swiss Workers’ Assistance.

Araya, whose full name was revealed in British media, had gained employment through a refugee integration programme and said in a pamphlet for the Swiss Workers’ Relief Organisation that he liked “almost everything” about Switzerland.