Trial in Eisenstadt

Car bomb planted: “It works like napalm”

"Not a child's toy": the atmosphere at Eisenstadt Regional Court was explosive on Tuesday.(Bild: HS, Krone KREATIV)

Based on two fingerprints plus a DNA trace, a man with a criminal record from Lower Austria was identified and convicted: "I'm just the scapegoat here! How am I supposed to be able to make a bomb? I don't even have a high school diploma." 

On March 4 of this year, a young woman from Eisenstadt had a very special experience. After she had parked her car, she noticed that something was blocking the left front tire. She got out and found a black bin bag, which on closer inspection turned out to be a bomb:

Monster 100
Two one-liter cola bottles filled with diesel and soap flakes, a gas cartridge, a few firecrackers called "Monster 100", which are banned in Germany, and fuses.

"It's never a child's toy," says the investigating explosives expert at the trial in Eisenstadt. "If something like that catches fire, it acts like napalm. It can be lethal!"

Why the man has to be here
A 22-year-old man from Lower Austria, who appears without a lawyer, has been charged with making a dangerous threat. "Actually, I don't know why I have to be here," says the unemployed man, who lives with his mother and will "hopefully soon" be working for the first time in his life. "I've never seen this woman before. I don't know her. And the last time I was in Eisenstadt was five years ago."

Common garbage theft?
So how on earth did the fingerprints of the person known to the police get on the inside of the tape and on one of the bottles? Why was his DNA found on the outside of the bag? "Maybe someone took something from my garbage," says the man who "never" buys such large glass bottles. And anyway: "How am I supposed to be able to make a bomb? I don't even have a secondary school certificate."

Dirty fingers?
The young woman suspects that her ex-boyfriend might have had something to do with it. "He threatened me. But he certainly didn't get his own fingers dirty. It's funny that they both come from the same city, isn't it?" The accused knows this ex, they say hello to each other, that's all. "I'm Turkish," says the Austrian-born man. "I have nothing to do with Kurds. Besides, why would he take me? There are better people." And: "I can't confess, otherwise I would have to lie."

For the judge, "the evidence is clear that you were involved in building the bomb" - 10 months conditional imprisonment for 3 years and probation. Not legally binding.