The man who attacked people in Amsterdam turned out to be a Ukrainian deserter who wanted to go to prison in Europe

Thirty-year-old Ukrainian Roman D., suspected of stabbing five people in Amsterdam in March of last year, had deserted the Ukrainian army and wanted to end up in a European prison.

This was reported by the Dutch outlet NOS.

The newspaper spoke with Roman’s former fellow soldiers, who revealed that even before leaving Ukraine, he had repeatedly expressed a desire to be imprisoned in Europe.

“He often said he wanted to kill someone in Norway in order to go to prison and be taken care of for the rest of his life. He studied the laws of different countries to understand how to get a life sentence. He had long shown signs that something was wrong with his mental state. When I first heard what Roman did in Amsterdam, I thought: ‘An idiot’s dream came true,’” said one of the soldiers who knew Roman.