Lorenz K. in court – shouting duel in the terror trial: “Just lawyer kitsch!”

He is barely recognizable since his last test, weighs twice as much and is pumped up with muscle. The now 25-year-old finds himself in a situation that is very similar to that in 2017. Lorenz K. must appear before a jury for attempted murder, attempted intentional endangerment with explosives and the crimes of a terrorist organization and a person responsible for it criminal organization.

13-year-old sent to Advent market with bomb
At the end of November 2016, the Viennese incited a 13-year-old from Ludwigshafen, Germany, to commit a suicide bombing at an Advent market. Only because the constructed bomb did not explode, the boy remained alive and only an attempted murder was made – for this Lorenz K. was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The prosecutor notes: “Today’s charges are completely the same as in the first trial.” The 25-year-old has been serving his sentence in various prisons for seven years and has in fact owned an illegal mobile phone since the beginning. the spread of propaganda and the ideas of Lorenz K. has never stopped IS. He is said to have called on a total of four people to carry out a terrorist attack. Fortunately it was an attempt.

IS “like a drug addiction”
His lawyer David Jodlbauer emphasizes that this has nothing to do with luck: “When he was arrested, he was definitely a terrorist, a Salafist, an IS supporter. He believed in the madness that IS spread. But he certainly isn’t that anymore.” His client never really believed that anyone would commit an attack because of him.

The 25-year-old received support, strength and attention from like-minded people – something that is not self-evident in prison. “You can become addicted to it. Mr. K. himself describes it as a drug addiction, to which he can always relapse,” lawyer Jodlbauer explains. And that happened when he contacted the second defendant. Rudolf Mayer’s client is serving a 16-year prison sentence for, among other things, attempted murder.

A pause after a loud outburst of emotion
He spent part of that time in the same prison as the well-known hate preacher Mirsad O. – who ultimately radicalized the 34-year-old. Attorney Mayer draws attention to the man’s deeply rooted Serbian Christian faith: “He was anything but an Islamist. Why would such a person jump up there? Because IS propaganda is excellent.” Rudolf Mayer criticizes prison conditions and wonders how a convicted hate preacher can continue to recruit people in prison.

A criticism that the public prosecutor – as a representative of the Republic of Austria – does not accept. He begins to respond to the defense’s opening statements: “It’s all lawyer kitsch you’ve heard,” he addresses the lay judges. Lawyer Rudolf Mayer doesn’t want to hear that: after a shouting match, the trial is interrupted for a short break. Mayer then stays away from the room, his colleague takes over.

When the heated atmosphere calms down, Lorenz K. speaks out for the first time and provides deep insights into his radicalization. At the age of 14 he went to prison for the first time. His cell partner gave him a Quran “and it actually contained everything I was looking for. That was like an answer to me. That was the only thing I ever learned in my life. I knew my way there. ISIS was my world. To me he was the savior from all evil. He was a necessary evil.”

However, he has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He was a member of the terrorist organization, but: “I knew he was not willing to commit murder.” And he also says that about his other three like-minded people. If the 25-year-old is found guilty, he could face life in prison. The process is expected to take several days.