In just a few weeks, a 20-year-old committed a series of violent acts around Floridsdorf train station – he hit a sleeping homeless man 20 times with an aluminum rod. But he is also in court on terrorism charges. The young Viennese became radicalized after his friend was killed in the 2020 Vienna attack…
“This is inhumane” – a sentence you usually hear from the prosecution, the judge or perhaps the defense. In room 22 at the Vienna Regional Court, the defendant commented on his own actions with these words. “I’m sad that I did something like that. “I can’t believe what I did to these people,” admits the 20-year-old. Trail of violence at Floridsdorf train stationThe list of its victims is long. In the spring of 2023, he was up to mischief with a whole gang of teenagers and young adults in the 21st district around Floridsdorf train station: “During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that he had committed several acts of violence,” said the public prosecutor. He threatened a security employee and a bakery employee with a blank pistol. Beat up complete strangers. Kicked passers-by while driving past on an e-scooter. “The consistent picture that emerged was that acts of violence were committed against uninvolved people for absolutely no reason,” summarizes the prosecutor. And why? “I had the feeling that if I did that, I would be stronger and the other young people would look at me,” admits the young Viennese. Probably the most brutal of his acts: In May 2023, he hit a sleeping homeless man 20 times with an aluminum rod. As with the other acts of violence, an accomplice filmed. “Give him on the head,” he shouted behind the camera…Friend lost in Vienna terrorist attack How can it come to this, Mr. Rat wants to know. The 20-year-old talks about his family, his childhood and school years – which were all positive. He started an apprenticeship and worked in a supermarket. A drastic experience: On November 2, 2020, he lost a good friend in the terrorist attack in downtown Vienna. “I couldn’t cope with the fact that he was shot.” He began to research and sympathize with the jihadist-Salafist organization al-Nusra Front. Because she is fighting against the Islamic State, explains the defendant. “I had such hatred for IS.” Research turned into radicalization. Completely incomprehensible for one of the lay judges in view of the terrible fate of his good friend: “How can you allow yourself to be used by terrorists, approve of violence, beat people? I can’t understand that.”Imprisonment is not the right way. The Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) became aware of an Instagram profile with radical content in October 2022 and confiscated the young Viennese’s cell phone five months later. In addition to propaganda material, he also found numerous videos of the accused acts of violence. “I thought it was right at the time. This is no longer the life I want to live. It’s just terrible what I did. “It’s inhumane,” he says, confessing and reforming in court. However, there is still one thing that contradicts the full, remorseful confession: “You have committed a large number of completely unmotivated acts of violence. “I have rarely experienced something like this on this scale,” notes the presiding judge. He faces five years of partial prison sentence. A large part – namely three and a half years – is checked conditionally. The reasoning: “Imprisonment is not the right way to prevent you from committing criminal acts in the future.” Instead, psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment as well as his participation in the de-radicalization program are considered more sensible. Not legally binding.
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