Six suspected supporters of the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2, 2020 are on trial today. The assassin can no longer be tried, the sympathizer of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) was shot by the police at the time.
The 20-year-old killed four people, including a German student, in a busy nightlife district in the center of the Austrian capital. 23 people were injured, including some Germans. In the Vienna district court, the verdicts should fall in February at the earliest.
From the point of view of the public prosecutor’s office, the defendants supported the perpetrator ideologically and logistically, but were not directly involved in the assassination. According to the indictment, they helped, among other things, to plan the assassination and to get an assault rifle as a murder weapon.
The men, aged between 22 and 32, are accused of, among other things, involvement in terrorist offenses in connection with murder. Depending on their age, the alleged accomplices face a maximum sentence of 20 years or life imprisonment.
The attack in Austria in 2020 not only caused horror, but also criticism because of investigation mishaps before the crime. A commission of inquiry stated in a report that the police and judiciary did not take timely action against the perpetrator who had a criminal record – although investigators knew that the man wanted to buy military ammunition in Slovakia.
As a consequence of the mistakes made by the authorities, the Austrian state security system was reformed.
