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CRIME

Austria frees alleged Russian crime boss on bail

An Austrian court has freed on bail the alleged head of a Russian crime gang wanted by Moscow for a string of murders, in a new twist to a long-running legal saga.

Austria frees alleged Russian crime boss on bail
Russian police rounded up gang members in 2014. File photo: APA

Armed Austrian police arrested Aslan Gagiev in January 2015 at a Vienna train station. His gang is accused by Russian authorities of at least six murders.

Those killed include the deputy vice-president of the Russian republic of North Ossetia, the deputy public prosecutor, a mayor and the chief of police.

After several different rulings, Austria's highest court last year put his extradition to Russia on ice because of concerns about how he would be treated there.

This was in part because Russia's constitutional court ruled in July that Russian laws take precedence over judgements by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Gagiev, 45, says he is the victim of a case of mistaken identity and says that Russia's attempt to have him extradited is politically motivated, the Austria Press Agency reported.

His bond was set at €100,000 ($110,000) and Gagiev undertook not to leave the country. Bulgaria also wants him prosecuted for allegedly using a fake Bulgarian passport.

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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