IS Propaganda: Imprisonment for Vienna Military Serviceman
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for terrorist association and criminal organization, which were conditionally suspended with a three-year probation period.
The jury unanimously acquitted the 19-year-old of the co-accused charge of National Socialist re-engagement. The verdict is not final, as the young man requested time to consider. The prosecutor agreed with the decision.
The accused admitted to the actions he was charged with, but nevertheless claimed to be "innocent." Starting in October 2024, he initially spread several video clips and photos via his Instagram profile and WhatsApp, which clearly showed an affinity to IS by posing with the so-called Tawhid finger gesture. The raised right index finger is known to have been appropriated by Salafist or Islamist groups and serves as their identifying mark. The 19-year-old accompanied his posts with Nasheeds (chants, ed.), which glorified jihad and originally came from the IS media outlet.
For Prosecutor "No Trivial Offense"
"He wanted to portray himself as a fighter for IS, deliberately with inciting Nasheeds," said the prosecutor. It is "not a trivial offense, but serious crimes." Such propaganda serves to recruit and enlist new IS members.
The accused and his lawyer Martin Fürthaler assured that this was not the case. The 19-year-old's intent was not to engage in terrorist activities and pursue IS goals. He was initially discharged from the military last year due to illness, where he would have completed his conscription. Then his girlfriend also broke up with him, the young man reported to a jury: "That's when I slipped."
According to his statements, he "regularly hung out" with ten to fifteen people at a train station in a larger Lower Austrian community "during this phase." Of his new friends, "99 percent were Muslims." He wanted to "belong," so he converted and created the image material in question. "I never thought in my life that this would lead to where I am now." Rather, he was concerned with "finding my inner peace" and showing his ex-girlfriend "the change." "Then you should have let your hair grow," remarked the presiding judge.
Defense Lawyer in Vienna Blamed Wrong Friends and Phone
"He has blonde hair. Freckles. He is Roman Catholic. He was in church last Christmas. He has a tattooed cross behind his left ear," emphasized defense lawyer Fürthaler, highlighting his client's appearance and religious confession. He had drifted towards a certain interpretation of Islam due to wrong friends and "a lot of time and a phone."
From mid-January 2025, the defendant apparently had enough of IS. He then spread messages and image files that, from the prosecutor's perspective, fulfilled the offense of National Socialist re-engagement. The 19-year-old allegedly glorified Hitler and his work "Mein Kampf" and forwarded image montages that, for example, showed Hitler with a bare chest and the note "seductive," the prosecutor noted.
The jurors saw it differently and acquitted the defendant on this point. What considerations led to this remained unclear - the verdict of the jurors is only announced and, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO), does not require further justification.
With a threat of punishment ranging from one to ten years, the person found guilty of the terrorist association got off relatively lightly. Moreover, the conscript, who apparently has recovered and has been completing his remaining military service since March, had the 18 months imposed on him fully suspended. The decisive factor for this was his previous blamelessness, as emphasized in the judgment's reasoning.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.
