Grandma got custody

Children of Viennese terror couple taken to Turkey

Symbolic image

(Bild: P. Huber)

On Monday, three underage children of a couple arrested in Vienna at Christmas on suspicion of terrorism, who allegedly belong to a transnational network of the radical Islamist group "Islamic State Province of Khorasan" (ISPK) and were involved in plans to attack St. Stephen's Cathedral and Cologne Cathedral, were transferred to Turkey. This was announced by Andreas Schweitzer, the parents' defense lawyer, who also criticized the decision.

The Vienna Children and Youth Services (MA 11) had initially placed the children, aged three, five and seven, in a crisis center after the parents - a 28-year-old Tajik and a 27-year-old woman from Turkey who had been living in Vienna since 2022 - were detained. It was subsequently decided that the grandmother of the underage children, who lives in Turkey, would be granted temporary custody. The parents, in particular the mother of the children, had also given their consent to the transfer abroad, but their lawyer revoked this last Friday.

Lawyer: mother had been put under pressure
The 27-year-old's consent was "coerced from her under false pretenses", said Schweitzer in the interview. The woman had been "persuaded that she would never get out of prison again. She didn't know how to deal with this situation". Schweizer had therefore written to MA 11 asking them to "stop the planned transfer in any case in order to prevent further psychological damage to the children", as stated in a letter dated last Friday. The mother of three had been put under pressure and the transfer had "simply gone through anyway", the lawyer criticized the official procedure.

Lawyer Andreas Schweitzer

(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

Authority speaks of "express wish of the mother"
MA 11 "firmly rejected" the accusations made against them. In a letter to Schweitzer on Monday afternoon, the head of the regional office responsible drew the lawyer's attention to the fact that it was "the mother's express wish" to take the children from the crisis accommodation to their parents "to enable them to remain in their family environment". The 27-year-old confirmed this several times and at various appointments. The children had been intensively prepared for the reunification with their grandparents: "In Turkey, the authorities are prepared for the arrival and takeover of the children. The trip has been organized and the grandparents are already on their way to Istanbul."

Couple denies allegations
The Vienna public prosecutor's office is investigating the parents as part of a suspected terrorist cell, in which a 30-year-old Tajik, who most recently lived in Germany, is said to have played a leading role, for terrorist association (Section 278b StGB) in connection with terrorist offenses (Section 278c StGB). The couple deny all the accusations made against them.

Tajik spied on St. Stephen's Cathedral as a terrorist target
The 30-year-old, who has since been extradited by the German authorities and is now also being held in custody in Vienna's Josefstadt prison, had met the Viennese terror suspects several times by December 20. The 30-year-old, who had been in the focus of the German secret service for some time and was therefore under surveillance, was observed filming St. Stephen's Cathedral in a manner atypical for tourists, checking it for surveillance cameras and patting down the walls.

In the meantime, the 30-year-old flew to Istanbul for a few days, where other members of the terror cell are suspected, returned to Vienna on December 18 and took photos and video footage of the Prater - apparently another potential target - on December 19 before returning to Germany on December 20. He was arrested on the basis of a European arrest warrant requested by the Vienna public prosecutor's office.