Five years in prison – violent perpetrator: ‘If I do that, I will be stronger’

“This is inhumane” – a punishment you usually hear from the prosecutor, the judge or perhaps the defense. In room 22 of the Vienna Regional Court, the defendant commented on his own actions in these words. “I’m sad that I did something like that. “I can’t believe what I did to these people,” the 20-year-old admits.

Traces of violence at Floridsdorf train station
The list of his victims is long. In the spring of 2023, he was out with a whole gang of teenagers and young adults in the 21st district around the Floridsdorf train station: “During the investigation, it was discovered that he had committed several acts of violence.” said the prosecutor. He threatened a security guard and a bakery worker with a blank pistol. Beat up complete strangers. Pedestrians kicked as they passed by on an e-scooter.

“The consistent picture that emerged is that acts of violence were committed without any provocation against uninvolved people,” the prosecutor summarizes. And why? “I had the feeling that if I did that, I would be stronger and that the other young people would look at me,” admits the young Viennese. Probably the most brutal of his actions: In May 2023, he hit a sleeping homeless man twenty times with an aluminum bar. As with the other violent crimes, an accomplice is filmed. “Give him his head,” he shouted from behind the camera…

Friend lost in terrorist attack in Vienna
How did it come to this, Mr. Rat wants to know. The 20-year-old talks about his family, childhood and school days – all of which were positive. He started training and worked in a supermarket. A profound experience: on November 2, 2020, he lost a good friend in the terrorist attack in the center of Vienna. “I couldn’t process that he was shot.”

He began researching and sympathizing with the jihadist-Salafist organization al-Nusra Front. Because she is fighting against Islamic State, the defendant explains. “I hated ISIS so much.” Research resulted in radicalization. Completely incomprehensible for one of the lay judges given the terrible fate of his good friend: “How can you allow yourself to be taken over by terrorism, condone violence, hit people? I can’t understand that.”

Imprisonment is not the right way
The Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) became aware of an Instagram profile with radical content in October 2022 and seized the young Viennese’s mobile phone five months later. In addition to propaganda material, he also found numerous videos of the accused acts of violence. “I thought it was right at the time. This is no longer the life I want to live. It’s just horrible what I did. “It’s inhumane,” he says, as he confesses and reforms in court.

However, there is still one thing that contradicts the full, remorseful confession: “You committed a large number of completely unmotivated acts of violence. “I have rarely experienced something like this on this scale,” notes the chairman. He is sentenced to five years’ partial imprisonment. A large part – namely three and a half years – is conditionally monitored. The reasoning: “Prison is not the right way to prevent you from committing criminal offenses in the future.” Instead, psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment, as well as his participation in the deradicalization program, are considered more sensible. Not legally binding.