Austria jails teen over planned attacks in Germany
April 13, 2018
A 19-year-old man was imprisoned for nine years over his involvement in plans for two Islamist extremist attacks in Germany. One of the suicide missions was to be carried out by a 12-year-old boy.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/S. Kuhlmey
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The Vienna Criminal Court sentenced an Austrian man of Albanian descent to nine years in prison on Friday in connection with plans for two Islamist extremist attacks in Germany.
The case highlights the challenges posed by radicalized youth ready to commit acts of terror at home and in neighboring countries.
The man was found guilty of inciting a 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy to target a Christmas market in the city of Ludwigshafen. The child had tried but failed to detonate an explosive belt at the market in late 2016.
During the trial, the 19-year-old admitted to being a member of the "Islamic State," but downplayed his role in plotting the attacks.
Reacting to his lengthy sentence, he turned defiant, saying: "I don't give a s***!"
What else happened in court?
As well as plotting multiple murders, the defendant was found guilty of membership of a terrorist organization.
The jury found the 19-year-old had incited his wife — whom he married under Sharia Law — to attack the Ramstein Air Base.
The 17-year-old girl with Moroccan heritage said she had fallen in love and let herself be influenced.
The market plotter, now aged 14, tried to cover for his older friend. "The idea was mine," he told the court.
The boy said he had considered beheading a priest, attacking a bus, or a hospital.
The attempted bomb attack at the Bonn train station in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile terror trials in Germany. Here's a look at some other major trials involving Islamist extremists in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Failed Bonn bomb
The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frankfurt airport bus attack
In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.
Image: AP
The Sauerland Cell
The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.
Image: AP
Sharia Police
Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/M. Becker
Big mouth
Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.
Image: DW/M. Gopalakrishnan
"Biggest mistake of my life"
On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
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What happens next?
Defense lawyer Wolfgang Blaschilz said he would consider appealing.
Blaschilz said the nine-year sentence was "way too much," and added that his client's deradicalization process was underway.
