22 months imprisonment

Islamist young terrorist released after trial

The trial took place at the Steyr Regional Court.

(Bild: © Harald Dostal)

A teenager who was arrested in December 2023 on suspicion of plotting terrorism against a synagogue in Vienna or Paris was sentenced to 22 months in prison in Steyr on Friday, four of which were unconditional. He had spent the four months in pre-trial detention and was allowed to go home.

Having already spent more than four months in pre-trial detention, the young man was allowed to go home with his parents after the final conviction. During the three-year probationary period, he will be given probation assistance and must receive counselling from an association that specializes in deradicalization, the judge explained.

No "delayed maturity" according to expert opinion
The public prosecutor did not elaborate on the charges in his opening statement. He only stated that an expert opinion by psychiatric expert Adelheid Kastner had not found any delayed maturity in the defendant. He was therefore to be found fully guilty as charged. The central element was "the right accompanying measures" to show him that "the path he had taken was the wrong one and that he should be put back on the right one", said the public prosecutor.

"Was meant as a joke"
The defense lawyer explained that although his client had been "out and about" on social media with postings about building bombs or plans to attack synagogues, the whole thing was "meant as fun". He wanted to see how others would react to his announcement. "The bottom line is to clarify whether the young person acted deliberately and was guilty". The lawyer denied this and demanded an acquittal. The defendant said nothing in court.

Taken into custody on December 7
The then 16-year-old was arrested on December 7. Several electronic data carriers were seized from him, including clear image and video material with executions as well as several instructions for making bombs, weapons and ammunition.

The student had dealt with various crime scene possibilities and implementation variants, announced Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) and the head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, at a press conference in Vienna a few days after the arrest.