Prison Sentence for 15-Year-Old IS Supporter in Vienna

A 15-year-old student was sentenced to two years in prison, partly unconditional, partly conditional, for terrorist association and incitement to commit a crime. He must serve eight months unconditionally, and 16 months were suspended with a three-year probation. Probation assistance was ordered, and the student must continue a deradicalization program. Both parties accepted the verdict, which is now final. Taking into account the pre-trial detention, he has about three months left in prison. A planned apprenticeship starting in August is currently void.

Tips from school led to the arrest of 15-year-old

The 15-year-old IS supporter was arrested on March 7 after the Directorate of State Protection and Intelligence (DSN) and the Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (LSE) became aware of him due to tips from his school. Two parents independently contacted the constitutional protection because the radical attitude of the boy with Indian roots was noticeable. He had shown classmates IS propaganda videos, including clips of beheadings of IS prisoners and hostages, in class or on the school grounds.

As it turned out during the investigations, he had stored a combat knife in his locker at school. During a house search at his address, extensive propaganda material was secured. The evaluation of confiscated data carriers then showed that he harbored terrorist attack intentions and had networked in the federal capital with three IS supporters, all of whom were already in pre-trial detention in Vienna for terrorist association.

15-year-old in contact with thwarted Westbahnhof attacker

One of them was the same-aged thwarted Westbahnhof attacker, who was arrested on February 10 and who received a non-final two-year partial sentence at the Vienna Regional Court just under two weeks ago. The arrest of his acquaintance had made the 15-year-old angry. In a chat, he announced to another IS supporter that he would "take revenge" for it. He had a 20-year-old from the IS network, which had formed around the accused, procure a combat knife with an 18-centimeter blade in an army shop in a Vienna shopping district, which the 15-year-old stored at his school because he feared his parents would discover it at home.

The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office is already conducting a third (sic) proceeding against the 20-year-old for terrorist association. All deradicalization attempts seem to have failed sustainably in this case. After obtaining the knife, the 15-year-old independently acquired several bomb-making instructions on the internet and consumed tutorials on how to carry out suicide attacks. He particularly informed himself in detail about car bomb attacks. The 15-year-old admitted before a jury that he initially sought revenge after the arrest of his same-aged acquaintance: "But that quickly cooled off." However, during the investigation, the student had insisted on the "right to retaliation" and confirmed that he had obtained the combat knife for this purpose.

"I played with the thought of committing an attack"

"I had these thoughts. I played with the thought of committing an attack. But I had no plan. I couldn't imagine killing anyone. I'm 15 years old. I couldn't imagine doing anything," the accused testified, who was brought to the courtroom by six heavily armed officers of the Justice Guard Task Force (JEG) from the Josefstadt Correctional Facility (JA). He "had no means to implement it."

The accused came to Austria as a small child with his parents and grew up in orderly family circumstances. "Religion has always been very important to me," he told the court during his interrogation. He turned away from Hinduism, which is practiced in his family, and ended up with Islam because his social circle was predominantly Muslim. He converted in 2024.

Subsequently, the student radicalized in a very short time, with TikTok playing a central role once again. The platform's algorithm virtually flooded him with IS propaganda and videos of well-known hate preachers, whose content he adopted. "I then started to find IS good," the accused stated. He was "at that time" of the opinion that one could kill in the name of IS.

15-Year-Old Admired Vienna Attacker

After he made the IS flag his profile picture, like-minded individuals soon followed him on TikTok and Instagram. This led him to come into contact with the thwarted Westbahnhof attacker, whom he met several times in person, and two other IS members living in Vienna. He expressed admiration for the Vienna attacker, who shot four people in the name of IS in downtown Vienna on November 2, 2020. "May God be merciful to him," the 15-year-old said to an older IS sympathizer, who later recalled in an interrogation before the constitutional protection agency that the 15-year-old "totally idolized" the Vienna attacker.

He also spoke positively about the Villach attacker, who took the life of a 14-year-old with a knife this February. He got his younger brother to pose for the camera with the Tauhid gesture - where the index finger of the right hand is pointed to the sky, serving as a recognition sign of extremist groups - and a combat knife in the left hand. A friend of the younger brother testified in court that he was aware of the 15-year-old's radical and terrorist thoughts: "He wanted to plant a bomb at Westbahnhof."

"We Still Need to Get Weapons"

This statement was incorrect, the defendant assured. However, chats written after the arrest of the thwarted Westbahnhof attacker did indeed point in this direction. "We had planned. But brother, I can't tell you. I wasn't caught," the 15-year-old revealed to a like-minded individual. When asked where the attack was intended, the defendant replied: "Not Germany, maybe Vienna. We still need to get weapons."

Confronted with this by the judge, the 15-year-old claimed he wanted to "attract attention": "I wanted to win more people over." He had "written boastfully." There were no concrete attack plans.

Thwarted Westbahnhof Attacker as Witness

The thwarted Westbahnhof attacker, who testified as a witness, stated that he had not discussed his own plans with the defendant. He had "never heard from him that he wanted to carry out an attack." He also "didn't tell the 15-year-old much. We sympathized."

It is certain that the defendant had pledged allegiance to IS and endorsed the killing of non-believers on so-called social media. "Allah has his blood," he said about someone who spoke critically about Islam. And further: "It is permissible to kill him."

He has now distanced himself from this, the 15-year-old and his lawyer assured. "He completed his school degree while in custody. He is ready to change. He has a positive future prognosis," said the defense attorney. "I have learned in custody," the 15-year-old explained. He has "completely broken off contact" with his former IS-minded associates.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.