Before fleeing to Austria, he is said to have been involved in combat operations on the side of the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) in his homeland and supervised Yazidi prisoners. He is also accused of having conducted propaganda and recruited youths and young men for IS. The indictment is final.

The potentially criminally relevant past of the Syrian - who is presumed innocent - came to light last year. According to APA information, in May 2024, the domestic intelligence service and law enforcement agencies received information from Germany establishing a connection between the Syrian registered in Vienna and IS. Top judicial authorities informed the Vienna authorities that witnesses had come forward in a German investigation, heavily incriminating the Syrian residing in Vienna. Subsequently, it emerged that the man had appeared as a protagonist in an IS propaganda video before fleeing to Europe, German officials reported.

Syrian Allegedly Fought for IS Before Fleeing

After further investigations, during which the aforementioned video was also obtained, the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office considered the evidence sufficient to file charges against the 40-year-old at the Vienna Regional Court. This is supported by another anonymous witness who claims that the accused used to play IS videos on screens in his shop in Syria. Furthermore, an expert report by a court expert, who analyzed the propaganda video featuring the alleged appearance of the accused, incriminates the 40-year-old. The period covered by the indictment is assumed to be the year 2014.

The Syrian is said to have even made his business premises available to IS for housing Yazidi prisoners and conducted transport trips with female prisoners. IS pursued the Yazidi religious group with extreme cruelty; in August 2014, according to UN reports, 5,000 to 10,000 people were murdered in the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar alone. Another charge relates to IS supporters who traveled from Europe to Syria as so-called foreign fighters. The 40-year-old is said to have received some of them and taken care of them before they were transferred to IS training camps.

The trial against the man will take place this coming Friday at the Vienna Regional Court. If convicted, the 40-year-old faces several years in prison.

(APA/Red)

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