Trial in Feldkirch

Maximum sentence for drug dealer

This was the third time that a 40-year-old Serbian man had to answer for drug smuggling at Feldkirch District Court.

(Bild: DIETMAR STIPLOVSEK / APA / picturedesk.com)

The member of an international drug ring was involved in a number of drug deals; the 40-year-old Serbian is said to have smuggled a total of 455 kilograms of drugs. The case was being heard for the third time. 

In view of the immense quantities of drugs, the unusually high intensity of the 19 individual acts and the membership of a professional Bosnian-Serbian drug gang, the presiding judge of the trial senate, Philipp Plattner, justified the - not yet final - sentence of 15 years in prison.

In view of the immense quantities of drugs, the high intensity and the membership of a drug gang, there is no alternative to the maximum sentence.

Richter Philipp Plattner

The panel of lay judges considered it proven that the Serb, who was living in the lowlands at the time, had been involved in the Europe-wide smuggling and sale of 455 kilograms of drugs worth several million euros between February and June 2021 alone. As a member of a Serbian-Bosnian drug gang, the 40-year-old had participated in the organization of the smuggling and sale of 103 kilograms of cocaine, 62 kilograms of heroin and 290 kilograms of cannabis via a supposedly surveillance-proof crypto cell phone - as a designated, contributing and direct perpetrator, as it is called in legal jargon.

The Serb, who was arrested at his home in the Bregenz district in June 2021, also exercised his right not to make any statements at the second Feldkirch retrial. The competent judge in Feldkirch had already imposed the maximum sentence on the drug smuggler in December last year. In the first trial in September 2022, the prison sentence had been 13.5 years. However, both sentences were overturned at second instance.