The man had traded propaganda material for “Islamic State” on the Internet and was also active in radical chat groups. The trial was explosive because the accused was in contact with the later assassin in Vienna.
The accused is one of the twelve men who were arrested immediately after the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2, 2020. So far, it has not been possible to find any indications that the 24-year-old civil servant, who was deployed in a housing project for unaccompanied underage refugees, made a specific contribution to the crime. However, it turned out that he was in close contact with the assassin in chat groups on WhatsApp and Telegram. He also met him personally in a mosque in Vienna-Ottakring, which was closed for a while shortly after the attack.
The defendant not only spread IS propaganda virtually, but also traded IS memorabilia over the Internet together with his partner at the time. In addition to coffee cups with a logo and rings with the seal of the prophet, which is often used to identify IS, and bookmarks with armed fighters, there were also “IS chocolate” for particularly good customers, according to the public prosecutor. The man also spread propaganda by sending chants in German and Arabic.
“Like a child played with fire”
Right at the beginning of the jury hearing, the accused, who had already been in custody for a year, pleaded guilty at least to dealing with propaganda material. However, he downplayed his role in the chats, where jihad had also been called for and where he was the administrator. His defense asserted that he never called for jihad himself. He played with fire like a child, which he regrets today, said the accused himself.
In the chat groups, individual IS sympathizers were at work, all of whom knew that it was not allowed to say anything clearly and therefore worked with insinuations, the judge said in his verdict. “I’m not a big fan of general prevention,” he also said, but “in this milieu one must send out a clear signal to the outside world” that the dissemination of such propaganda also entails unconditional prison sentences.
The prosecution made no statement after the verdict was announced. The defendant waived an appeal. The judgment is therefore not final.
Source: Nachrichten
