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CRIME

Alleged crime boss faces extradition

A legal saga over the suspected head of a organised crime gang wanted by Moscow and held in Austria took a new twist on Wednesday as a Vienna court again approved his extradition to Russia.

Alleged crime boss faces extradition
Russian police rounded up some of his gang in 2014. Photo: APA

On June 25 an appeals court had overturned an earlier ruling by the same Vienna criminal court in favour of Aslan Gagiev's extradition, citing concerns about his human rights if sent to Russia.

But the criminal court's presiding judge Michael Spinn ruled on Wednesday that there were no “serious grounds” not to extradite Gagiev and that it was “not at all proven” that he faced torture and maltreatment in Russia.

The appeals court had also called on Russia's public prosecutor to provide assurances that Gagiev's human rights would not be infringed. This has since been given to the Austrian authorities.

Georgian-born Gagiev, 45, who was arrested in Vienna in January, is accused by Russian authorities of personally carrying out at least six murders.

His gang's alleged victims include the deputy vice-president of the Russian republic of North Ossetia, the deputy public prosecutor, a mayor and the chief of police, Austrian police said at the time of his arrest.

The latest ruling can again be appealed.

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CRIME

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

Austrian authorities on Friday said they were investigating 17 teenagers - including 12 minors - over the alleged months-long sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Vienna last year.

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

The alleged offences took place in a disadvantaged area of the capital’s south “between February and June 2023, in toilets, garages, a hotel and in the perpetrators’ homes”, Florian Finda, deputy director of the Vienna police, told a news conference.

The suspects in the rare case – most of whom are aged between 14 and 18 – are of Bulgarian, Italian, Serbian, Syrian and Turkish origin.

Two of them are under 14 and therefore below Austria’s age of criminal responsibility.

The suspects – almost all of whom were known to police for other offences – are accused of serious sexual abuse of a minor, including the pornographic depiction of the abuse of a minor.

Thirteen suspects were questioned on Thursday, with some of them partially denying the allegations.

The suspects and the Austrian victim met through one of the accused, with whom the then 12-year-old is said to have made out with.

She was then introduced to the rest of the group.

The boys allegedly exchanged videos and photos of the abuse via social networks including WhatsApp chats, with one of them allegedly threatening to share the pornographic material.

According to the police, none of the material was made available to the wider public.

In October, the young girl, now 13, informed her mother, who subsequently filed a complaint.

The ongoing investigation is due to be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office.

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