The trial of the jihadist attack in Vienna, the first to have hit Austria, opens on Tuesday October 18 with the appearance of six alleged accomplices of the killer, shot on the evening of the November 2, 2020 assault.
Kujtim Fejzulai, 20, had sown terror in the heart of the capital, shooting down four passers-by, wounding 23 others and sowing panic in this neutral country of 9 million inhabitants usually very safe. This Austrian had recorded a message of allegiance to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the act.
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If his absence hangs over the debates, the civil parties hope to find answers from the side of the six accused, five of whom were placed in pre-trial detention after their arrest in the wake of the attack.
“A form of justice”
They are four Austrians, a Kosovar and a Chechen aged between 21 and 32, suspected of havingfacilitated the execution of crimes in the name of their common affiliation with the radical Islamist movement“, According to the indictment consulted by AFP. Their support may have taken the form, depending on the case, of the supply of arms, logistical aid or even incitement to violence.
For Master Astrid Wagner, who defends one of them, her client recognizes the arms trafficking but not his responsibility in the attack. “He didn’t know what they would be used for“, told AFP the lawyer, on the eve of the debates. “The evidence presented is inconclusive“, she believes. Relatives of the victims, on the contrary, consider the case of the prosecution solid.
“Since the direct perpetrator cannot be judged, the condemnation of his accomplices would be a certain form of justice for the family.“Explains Me Mathias Burger, who represents the parents and brother of Nedzip Vrenezi, a 21-year-old young man who fell under the fire of the assailant.
The trial is scheduled to last 17 days, scattered over several months, with a verdict expected in February 2023 at the earliest.
Electronic surveillance for released jihadists
According to prosecutors, the attack in Vienna is part of a series of events “of particular importance“: the re-publication of the cartoons of Muhammad in September 2020, at the start of the trial of the 2015 attack on the editorial staff of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, and the attacks that followed, including the beheading of the professor Samuel Patty. Among the targets identified was a French restaurant in the same area, which was closed that evening.
After the attack, the Austrian government had been strongly criticized for its failures in the surveillance of the shooter. Kujtim Fejzulai, whose parents were from North Macedonia, was convicted in 2018 of trying to join IS in Syria.
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The intelligence services had not detected his dangerousness even though they had been informed of his attempt to buy weapons after his release from prison and of contacts he had had with jihadists from neighboring countries.
In response, Austria in July 2021 introduced electronic monitoring for released jihadists and created a separate criminal offense to convict crimes motivated by “religious extremism“.
A register of imams has also been set up and the government now has the right to oversee the financing of mosques and prayer rooms.