Image: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH
The defendant confessed, but stressed that he did not give the pistol directly to the assassin. He never met him and didn’t know his intentions either. The assassin took this weapon with him to the city center during the terror attack on the evening of November 2, 2020, where he killed four passers-by with an assault rifle before being shot dead by the police. He is also said to have gotten the gun from the Slovene. The Zastava M70 – a model manufactured in former Yugoslavia and based on the technology of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle – is no longer the subject of the trial – due to an “unacceptable error” by the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, as Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) admitted on the Whitsun weekend .
In 2021, the prosecution erroneously dropped a case in which the Slovene was involved. Marsel O. can therefore no longer be held responsible for the delivery of the Zastava in June 2020 – a possible violation of the War Material Act. With regard to the handgun, he is only accused of an offense under the Weapons Act, which results in a reduction in the range of punishment. If convicted in accordance with the charge, the arms dealer now faces a maximum of two years in prison.
The 32-year-old is at large, the Vienna public prosecutor’s office had never requested his arrest. The lapse at the public prosecutor’s office, which became known only a few days ago, already had consequences. Minister of Justice Zadic initiated an administrative review and ordered a strengthening of internal supervision and structural changes in the Vienna prosecutor’s office.
Source: Nachrichten
