Berlin, Apr 12 (IANS): A 21-year-old Syrian suspect went on trial in the German city of Dresden on Monday, six months after a knife attack on two tourists that left one dead and the other seriously injured.

According to prosecutors at the Dresden Higher Regional Court, the Syrian suspect is a radical Islamist who had mistaken the men for a homosexual couple and wanted to punish them with death, reports dpa news agency.

He faces charges of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm after the men were stabbed with kitchen knives on the evening of October 4, 2020.

According to the indictment, the young man had been planning an attack in Germany for years.

He came to Germany as a refugee in 2015.

In 2018, he had been sentenced to a term in juvenile detention for promoting the Islamic State terrorist group.

The sentence was increased after attacks on officials in the prison.

He was released at the end of September 2020.

After the stabbing, the following month he initially managed to escape but was caught just under three weeks later.