Miscarriage of justice

Wrong leniency for convicted TikTok perpetrator

The Salzburg Regional Court reduced the fine for a convicted terror supporter at his request because he is expecting a child. Following an appeal by the public prosecutor's office, the Higher Regional Court corrected the change. According to the decision, a legal error had occurred. 

The Salzburg Regional Court reduced the fine for a convicted IS supporter, of all people, who had demonstrably spread terror propaganda via the social media platform TikTok: instead of 6840 euros all at once, he would only have had to pay 4210 euros in installments. The Linz Higher Regional Court (OLG) intervened and corrected the change. But the question arises: why did the regional court show leniency towards a terror supporter?

Around a third less 
In detail, the Kosovar (28) applied for a "reduction of the daily sentence" in January 2025, six months after the conviction and two months after the legally binding confirmation. The reason he gave was that he was expecting a child: His wife was expecting a child. This would affect his income. The regional court accepted the request and reduced the daily fine from 19 to 11 euros. At that time, the Kosovar had received an unconditional fine of 360 daily rates of 19 euros each, i.e. a total of 6840 euros, in addition to 18 months' conditional imprisonment.

The Salzburg public prosecutor's office lodged an appeal. And the Linz Higher Regional Court subsequently canceled the reassessment of the daily rate and thus the reduction of the fine. Nevertheless, the convict is now allowed to pay off the sentence in 23 installments. According to a spokeswoman for the regional court, it was a legal error in the assessment of the fine. It did not matter whether the offender was a burglar or a supporter of terrorism. In the case of fines, only the income is the basis. In this case, the regional court incorrectly took the new income situation into account. According to the Higher Regional Court, however, those at the time of sentencing should be used.

Only one terror suspect is in prison
Keyword terror paragraph: There is currently only one terror suspect in the Salzburg prison with around 250 prisoners. This is the 21-year-old who was a sleeper agent for attacks by the terrorist organization IS and was arrested in December. The investigation against him is still ongoing.