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TERRORISM

10 years for war crimes sentence in Linz

An Austrian court sentenced Wednesday a Bosnian Muslim man to 10 years in jail over the massacre of 16 civilians in a Serb village during the bloody 1992-5 Bosnian war.

10 years for war crimes sentence in Linz
Regional Court, Linz. Photo: Johannes Auer/Picasa

The 48-year-old man, who now has Austrian citizenship, was accused of attacking the village of Serdari as part of a large group of Bosnian Muslims in September 1992.

They killed seven men, seven women and two children and set fire to six houses, apparently in revenge for Serb attacks, according to the charge sheet.

The defendant, who was not named, denied the charges but was found guilty of 16 counts of murder, three of attempted murder and arson.

The court in Linz heard from around 30 witnesses including two female survivors and a resident from a nearby village.

In 2014, a court in Sarajevo jailed four men over the Serdari killings, but their convictions were quashed the following year, the Austria Press Agency (APA) reported.

A new trial jailed one of them for 11 years and acquitted two while the fourth has since died, APA said.

The 1992-1995 inter-ethnic war in Bosnia left some 100,000 dead and displaced about two million people, almost half of the country's pre-war population.

The conflict was part of several wars fought inside the former Yugoslavia until 2001, which would eventually lead to the breakup of the country.

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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?

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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