Terrorist attack – new trial surrounding the attack in Vienna in early February

In connection with the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2, 2020, the Supreme Court (OGH) in early December partially annulled the first-instance verdicts for several supporters of the Viennese attacker due to shortcomings in the findings and ordered the trial to be restarted to this extent executed. It is now clear when this will start. On February 7, two men will stand trial before a jury for terrorist association.

Long prison sentences for involvement in the murder
After several months of negotiations, these two were acquitted by a jury in the Gray House on February 2, 2023, of involvement in murder in connection with terrorist crimes – and therefore of the central charge. They were each given two years in prison, eight months of which were unconditional, for membership of the radical Islamist terrorist militia ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and distributing IS propaganda material. In contrast, the jury concluded that the four main defendants had directly supported the murderer. For this he received two life sentences, one of 20 and one of 19 years in prison.

Guilty convictions for terrorist organization quashed
These convictions for committing terrorist offenses in connection with the terrorist attack in which four people were deliberately killed have been final since December 4. The Supreme Court only quashed the first-instance guilty verdicts for the crimes of the terrorist group and the criminal organization. The reason for this was that the OGH criticized errors in the legal instructions to the jury and that the verdict was not formulated in sufficient specificity. As a result, these charges must now be heard again and, in particular, the sentences for the suspects must be redetermined.

The new trial surrounding the attack in Vienna is divided
Because all findings at first instance regarding the contribution to the murder, the terrorist crimes and the crimes under the War Material Act and the Weapons Act have been confirmed by the Supreme Court, the new trial must be limited to the question of whether five men from the environment of the murderer was part of a terrorist organization was part of a criminal organization or there was a terrorist organization and a criminal organization. As Regional Criminal Court spokeswoman Christina Salzborn explained on Friday in response to an APA request, two men will be tried separately in three and a half weeks for procedural-economic reasons. For three main defendants who were severely punished by the first court, the second round will start in early March – the exact dates of the two-day trial have not yet been officially confirmed.

The main suspect is a 24-year-old suspected Islamist who, according to the legally binding findings, supported the Viennese attacker from May 2020 until the day of the attack, knew his intentions, helped select the target of the attack and made preparations. to escape by forging papers. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for this. In the case of a 29-year-old suspected IS supporter, the first court considered that he had encouraged the attacker to commit the crime from July 2020 until the day of the attack and had ready the murder weapons, ammunition and other accessories brought. the attacker’s apartment. He received a life sentence. A 23-year-old who helped organize the purchase of weapons and ammunition and who gave the killer contact with the arms broker by giving him his telephone number was sentenced by the court to 19 years.

The arms broker – a 33-year-old Chechen – is no longer involved in the second legal process. Based on the findings of the first court, it has already been legally established that he had nothing to do with IS and was not involved in any terrorist network. Despite this, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the murder and under the War Material Act and the Weapons Act for arranging the weapons and ammunition used in the attack. On the other hand, the man’s criminal appeal is pending before the Vienna Supreme Court (OLG).