"He was sentenced... under juvenile criminal law," he told RBB TV. The opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party described the attack as a total failure of security policy. According to Der Spiegel, Ballout told the Berlin court this spring that he had distanced himself from extremist ideology and violence. He said Ballout had given social workers "a very composed, very cautious, very controlled and very friendly impression". Peter Neumann at King's College London told ZDF that Germany's criminal law on terrorism is "too lenient," and sentences too short by European standards.