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TERRORISM

Ten alleged extremists on trial in Vienna

Ten suspects who allegedly planned to join the militant group Islamic State (Isis) are currently on trial at Vienna Criminal Court, amid high security.

Published: 10 June 2015 10:16 CEST
Ten alleged extremists on trial in Vienna
Vienna Criminal Court. Photo: Wikimedia

The Vienna-based suspects, nine Chechens and one Turkish national, were arrested in August last year as they attempted to leave Austria and travel to Syria. Police apprehended them as the group tried to cross the border in two cars.

They have been charged with participating in a terrorist organization.

In a statement to the court, prosecutor Stefanie Schön said that should the suspects have reached Syria they would have not only taken part in fighting, but also planned to support Isis logistically, financially, and help build infrastructure and provide other assistance.

Nine of the defendants declared themselves not guilty of the charges, claiming they had nothing to do with Isis. Three suspects denied even planning to travel to Syria.

One defendant, a 22-year-old Chechen man, plead guilty, although his lawyer Michael Schnarch claimed he was a victim of Isis propaganda and had been promised a wife in Syria.

The Chechen said he had been told at the mosque he visited in Vienna that good Muslims go and fight with Isis. Schnarch said he was in fact “one of the most peaceful people I have known”.  

A 26-year-old defendant said he was simply looking for “freedom and a job”.

Some of the men are believed to have been radicalized in the Altun-Alem mosque in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt district – under the influence of ‘hate’ preacher Mirsad O., who is now in Graz prison awaiting trial for alleged terrorist activities.

TERRORISM

What is the risk of new terror attacks in Austria?

Following the March 22nd attack in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall that left over 140 dead, European governments are evaluating the threat of terror attacks. Is Austria a target for fresh terrorist attacks?

Published: 28 March 2024 12:32 CET
What is the risk of new terror attacks in Austria?

With responsibility for the Moscow attack being taken by the Islamist terror organisation ISIS-K, national intelligence services are reevaluating the threat posed to targets within their borders. 

‘No concrete threat’

Austrian officials have been quick to give their appraisal of the situation. 

“We currently have the Islamist scene under control,” stressed Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the Directorate of State Security & Intelligence (DSN) – the governmental agency responsible for combatting internal threats – in an interview with the Ö1 Morgenjournal radio programme on Tuesday. 

He continued: “The terrorist attacks in Moscow, for example, definitely increase the risk. But at the moment, we do not see any concrete threat of an attack in Austria,”

Other experts and officials have warned that while there are no concrete threats, Austrians should not be complacent. 

‘Situation is still valid’ 

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced tighter security at church festivals during the Easter period, in the days after the attack, and stressed that the high terror alert level introduced after the October 7 Hamas attacks was still in place. 

“This increased risk situation is still valid,” noted Karner.

READ MORE: What does Austria’s raised terror alert mean for the public?

Meanwhile, terror researcher Peter Neumann of King’s College London told ORF’s ‘ZiB 2’ news broadcast on Monday that Austria remains a potential target due to its Central Asian migrant population. 

Neumann noted that countries at most risk are those “in which Tajik and Central Asian diasporas exist and where ISIS-K finds it relatively easy to identify and recruit people”. 

He continued, identifying both Austria and Germany as “countries in which the ISPK is particularly active and which are particularly at risk from terrorist attacks”.

New threats

Austria has not been spared from attacks from homegrown terrorists.

On November 2nd 2020, amid Coronavirus lockdowns, Austrian-born Kujtim Fejzulai shot and killed four, injuring twenty-three others during a shooting spree across Vienna. He was ultimately shot dead by police. 

Fejzulai was already under surveillance by federal authorities for his beliefs and had been released from prison on parole less than a year before. 

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