A 17-year-old teenager posted a video on social networks on the eve of the Halloween riots in Linz. A street fight with the police was reportedly called for. Today the initiator was on trial for “serious communal violence as an intended perpetrator”. Sentence: six months suspended.
In the series of court cases surrounding the Halloween riots in Linz, the “rioter” was finally sentenced to six months’ suspended prison sentence with three years’ probation by the regional court in Linz on Wednesday. The then 16-year-old North Macedonian posted a video that fueled the flash mob-like riots. It draws parallels with the feature film “Athena”, which deals with street fighting and police brutality in the French suburbs.
confession and insight
The charge was “serious communal violence as a target”, for which the young person could have been jailed for up to a year and a half. But his confession, as well as his understanding that he had done something wrong, led to a lenient sentence. So it appears “just not yet in the character reference,” the judge noted. On the one hand, he was given a probation officer for the duration of the probationary period. On the other hand, he must be instructed in the responsible use of social media. His smartphone, “the murder weapon”, was seized.
Video author went home by train
The carpenter’s apprentice had thereby assured that he only wanted to become “famous” with the video on the Internet. On October 30, 2022, he uploaded it and linked it to a photo of the Linz Taubenmarkt. However, he himself was not present at the riots of several hundred mainly young people the following evening in the inner city of Linz. Although he was in Linz for Halloween, he took the last train home to his parents.
He didn’t want to start a riot, but “had kind of expected it,” he admitted.
Virtual Big Sounds
The prosecutor already saw the role of the suspect as agitator if you uploaded a “terrifyingly violent video”. He was aware that “police officers can be injured and critical infrastructure damaged”. After the riots, he then boasted on the Internet about what he had instigated. “You have to be responsible for what you do in the virtual world in the real world,” she accused him.
The defender spoke of a certain “carelessness” on the part of the teenager. He stressed that his client was “absolutely beyond reproach,” a decent young man. “You don’t have to block everything for him,” he said in the opening speech against a harsh general preventive prison sentence. Because the teenager had a different opinion and he was separated from friends at that time.
“Just Stupid Idea”
When asked by the judge if he had “pulled the strings” or “just had an idea”: “It was just a stupid idea.” When the house was searched on December 17, 2022, he said he saw it. He would accept the juvenile court’s recommendation for adequate media treatment training, he said. Because he knows that because of his position “people went to the pigeon market”. After all, it was clicked up to 20,000 times and received 500 likes and comments.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
