Terror alarm for Christmas in Vienna: Chechen released from prison

“He was released on the orders of the public prosecutor’s office,” Florian Kreiner, the 47-year-old Chechen’s defense attorney, told the APA on Sunday evening.

The Vienna public prosecutor’s office confirmed this in response to an APA request. The order was issued “because the urgent suspicion has not been substantiated,” as authority spokeswoman Bussek stated. It was originally said that the previously blameless father of the family, together with a 28-year-old Tajik and his 27-year-old wife, who had been living in Vienna since 2022, belonged to a cross-country radical Islamist terror network that was said to have considered attacks in Germany and Vienna . The Vienna public prosecutor’s office is investigating the alleged cell of the terrorist group “Islamic State Province of Khorasan (ISPK)” for terrorist association (§278b StGB) in connection with terrorist offenses (§278c StGB).

14 cell phones seized

During a house search, 14 cell phones were seized from the suspected Islamists arrested in Vienna before Christmas, who deny the allegations against them, and have since been evaluated. Regarding the 47-year-old, “there was not a single piece of evidence from the beginning,” emphasized his defense attorney in an interview with the APA. “He was only arrested because he happened to live right next to the 28-year-old Tajik in the refugee accommodation,” said lawyer Kreiner.

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The Chechen’s legal representative sharply criticized the judiciary’s actions against the 47-year-old. “It was clear from the start that there was nothing against him. The public prosecutor’s office should never have applied for pre-trial detention and the state criminal court should never have approved this application,” said Kreiner. The Chechen was released without any conditions – the public prosecutor’s office apparently also came to the conclusion that he did not take part in a conspiratorial meeting in the refugee accommodation.

This is likely to have occurred on December 8, 2023 in the Vienna refugee shelter where the arrests later took place. The meeting was led by a 30-year-old Tajik who had traveled from Germany and who later filmed St. Stephen’s Cathedral in a manner untypical for tourists, checked for surveillance cameras and checked the walls. The 30-year-old, who had been known to the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution for a long time and who was therefore under surveillance, is said to have met the 28-year-old, who was registered at the Ottakring refugee home, as well as his wife of Turkish origin and possibly other people involved several times until December 20th.

In the meantime, the 30-year-old flew to Istanbul for a few days, returned to Vienna on December 18th, took photos and video recordings of the Prater on December 19th – apparently another potential attack target – and returned to Germany on December 20th . He was arrested in Wesel on December 24th – on the basis of a European arrest warrant requested by the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, as the Vienna public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the APA on Sunday.

Christmas mass in St. Stephen’s Cathedral as a goal?

According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, which cited German investigators over the weekend, the 30-year-old is said to have planned to attack a Christmas mass in St. Stephen’s Cathedral together with his accomplices. A car attack on Cologne Cathedral was planned for New Year’s Eve.

The 30-year-old is currently in the Cologne correctional facility; the Vienna judiciary has already initiated extradition proceedings, which are pending with the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, as the Cologne police announced on Sunday.

Shortly before Christmas, the German security authorities received information about a terrorist attack planned in Cologne Cathedral or in the surrounding area. Islamist extremists should be behind this. After further investigations, the police reported on New Year’s Eve that it was a “network of people from Central Asia.” Four other men were arrested on New Year’s Eve in connection with the investigation.

releases

Three of them, aged 25, 30 and 38, had Tajik or Uzbek citizenship and were arrested in Nörvenich in the Düren district and in Duisburg and Herne in the Ruhr area, the fourth, a 41-year-old German-Turk, in Bochum. Only the man arrested in Düren, a 25-year-old Tajik, was placed in long-term police custody on a court order. He can be held until January 14th. The others were released on New Year’s Day. The police emphasized that the detentions served to avert danger.

The 28-year-old Tajik and his wife who were arrested in Vienna are still in custody. The State Court for Criminal Matters will decide on Monday in a detention review whether this will be extended.

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