The trial of a youth gang that allegedly committed three arson attacks on a mobile phone store in Meidling and numerous other crimes related to protection fraud in September last year ended at the Vienna Regional Court on Friday. The main defendants, aged 17 and 19, were sentenced to unconditional prison terms of four and five years respectively.
The two could face further proceedings. “The initiation of proceedings for a terrorist organization is currently being investigated,” said spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service Nina Bussek.
Two 16-year-olds received one or two years unconditionally, and a 21-year-old received two and a half years “solid”. Another 16-year-old and a 15-year-old were given partial custody. The eldest got two years, eight months of which were unconditional, the 15-year-old got 18 months, six months of which were unconditional. Two other 15-year-olds received suspended sentences of four and fifteen months respectively.
Ten suspects in total
Since mid-May, a total of ten boys between the ages of 14 and 21 had to answer before a jury. Six of them remained in custody until the end, one stayed away from the trial. The gang was charged with arson, aggravated extortion, attempted intentional grievous bodily harm, multiple grievous bodily harm, serious damage to property, criminal organization and criminal conspiracy. Charges also included aggravated robbery, robbery and aggravated robbery, with machetes and knives used as murder weapons during the robbery.
Explosives in the nursery
The 17-year-old had bought bullet bombs that were banned in the Czech Republic. Together with an accomplice, he allegedly dealt with it in his childhood room and later in the building of a mosque and built an explosive weighing 2.3 kilograms at home. According to the indictment, a threatening letter was also written against the operator of the mobile phone store at the mosque, with the letter containing a cartridge that could fit an AK-47 assault rifle.
Mobile phone shop owner terrorized
Since September 8, 2023, the defendants had terrorized the owner of the mobile phone shop on Steinbauergasse by first blowing up the facade of the shop with three firecrackers. The result was damage of more than 5,000 euros and the windows of adjacent buildings were broken. Because the store owner, who had to pay the gang 25,000 euros, did not respond to their demands, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the store on September 19.
The scenes recorded by a surveillance camera showed a masked boy throwing the incendiary bottle through the open front door into the store where the store owner and his wife were staying. When the bottle burst on the floor and a flame shot up, the woman ran from the store in panic while her husband used a fire extinguisher to contain the flames.
Masked robbery
In the meantime, four suspects had robbed the cell phone store, three of whom appeared to be masked. The store was demolished and literally smashed to pieces, which was also captured on surveillance cameras.
Source: Krone
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