Terror trial: Supporters are said to have helped procure weapons

First of all, it was again about the question of how he wanted to get ammunition. The fourth defendant, who is accused of having helped plan the assassination and helped prepare the weapons, was then questioned.

First, the 23-year-old first accused had his say. The Kosovar is accused of having traveled to Slovakia with the later assassin in July 2020 to buy ammunition for an AK 47 assault rifle, like the one used in the attack.

Relationship with the terrorist: “Were not friends”

The 23-year-old testified that he met the later assassin at his job with a security company. They had seen each other a few times, but were not friends.

In the summer of 2020 he just bought a new car. The later assassin called him and asked what he was doing. Since he was on vacation, they “did a few laps”. Then the assassin suggested that he go to a shopping center in the Czech Republic. Since that was too far for him, they agreed on Bratislava.

There the two went to a shopping center. The later assassin looked around in a gun shop. The 23-year-old was twice informed by the staff about the applicable mask requirement, since he did not have a mask with him, he left the shop for “two to five minutes” to buy a mask in a pharmacy.

When he returned, the assassin was still in business. They said goodbye and left. The 23-year-old then asked him what he wanted in the business. “Eh nothing. I didn’t buy anything,” he replied.

Cell phone reset shortly after attack

The accused was also asked why he had reset his mobile phone on November 2, 2020, a few hours after the attack. On the evening of November 2, shortly after the attack, but before he heard about it, he saw a picture of the assassin on social media – at that time with friends in a bar – in which he was posing with weapons. He then wrote to him first and then called him several times to ask the assassin why he was posing with guns and to ask him to delete the picture.

Only then did he find out about the attack and saw a video on which the assassin reminded him of his acquaintance. On the way home, he feared a house search because of the calls and therefore reset his mobile phone to factory settings and hid it in the trunk of his car. Shortly before midnight on the evening of the attack, he texted one of the other suspects: “Prepare yourself, raid fast”. However, this meant “mental preparation”, not disposing of or hiding something. The 23-year-old wrote to the other accused because he had seen him several times with the assassin.

Propaganda video forwarded: “Not to be outdone in terms of ridiculousness”

He only forwarded a video of the terrorist group Boko Haram that the accused forwarded in 2020 because it was “can’t be surpassed in terms of ridiculousness”. He pleaded guilty to charges of distributing propaganda material.

The fourth accused – a 28-year-old who supported the assassin in the planning and is said to have prepared the murder weapons and ammunition – was then questioned. According to the prosecution, the previously loose contact between this accused and the assassin intensified after a meeting in mid-July 2020. Also present at this meeting were a German preacher, who has since been convicted, and several men under surveillance by the Swiss authorities. Apart from the later assassin, he saw everyone in the group for the first time, said the 28-year-old.

At this meeting, however, he only spoke with the assassin about “insignificant things like training”. In general, “a maximum of 10 percent of the conversations” revolved around religion.

The indictment accuses the 28-year-old of having helped plan the assassination together with the assassin in his apartment. At the beginning of October 2022, the accused moved into the assassin’s apartment, he testified. The assassin lived with his parents at the time and did not ask him for any money. According to the defendant, no weapons or ammunition were stored in the apartment. During this time, the assassin came by once, and the two spoke to each other for a few minutes. He moved out about three weeks later, the reason he gave was that he had “come to his senses” after difficulties in his marriage and problems with the youth welfare office, which is why he first moved in with his parents and then his wife.

The last time he was in the assassin’s apartment was on November 1, the day before the attack, the fourth accused explained. Evaluations of his mobile phone data also showed that he had been in the vicinity of the apartment. The reason for this was that he had washed his laundry there the day before and had now picked it up. He saw neither the assassin nor any preparations for the crime.

After the assassination, evaluations by the investigating authority found DNA traces of the accused both in the apartment and on the assault rifle used for the attack, the machete, as well as numerous other objects that the assassin had with him. “I have never touched any of these things, never seen them,” said the accused.

Analysis of his mobile phone data also showed that it was switched off during the attack. The defendant justified this by saying that he had been to the fitness center and the battery had run out. He doesn’t remember the name of the studio.

The 28-year-old Austrian citizen, who was born in Afghanistan, is also accused of spreading propaganda content. He forwarded content from a Telegram group to his wife so that she could translate it. “I never, ever had the intention of spreading propaganda for IS,” said the accused.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, all six of the accused were not directly involved in the terrorist attack, but are said to have actively helped the assassin in advance. The indictment essentially charges them with the crimes of involvement in terrorist offenses involving murder, terrorist organization and criminal organization.

The trial is scheduled to last until February 2023. The next hearing date is next Tuesday, December 13th, when the second and third accused will be heard. Before Christmas – on December 20th – the first five witnesses on the subject of obtaining weapons for the accused will be heard.