Man dragged into car

Prison sentences for kidnappers after tough deliberation

Five people had to answer to the Linz Regional Court(Bild: Markus Wenzel, Krone KREATIV)

Five defendants allegedly dragged a man into a van on the street in Linz and abused him. The public prosecutor called this blackmail kidnapping. The jury did not find this accusation to be true and, after a long deliberation period, decided on deprivation of liberty and coercion.

First things first: all five defendants - four men from Syria and one German - received prison sentences at the Linz Regional Court late on Friday evening. However, shorter sentences than for the offense of extortionate kidnapping charged by the Linz public prosecutor's office.

Long deliberations
After the trial, the jury retired to deliberate and ultimately rejected the charge of extortionate kidnapping with a penalty range of ten to 20 years imprisonment. At around 9.30 p.m., they announced that all five defendants had been convicted of qualified deprivation of liberty and aggravated coercion.one

Relevant previous convictions
A 26-year-old Syrian man has been sentenced to four years in prison for allegedly abusing the kidnap victim and posing for a photo with at least one weapon. Two of his compatriots (37, 27) will each spend three years behind bars, all three have multiple previous convictions.

Driver did not have to go back to prison
A 43-year-old Syrian was sentenced to 30 months unconditional imprisonment as the designated offender. The getaway vehicle was driven by a 41-year-old German woman who had always claimed in court that she knew nothing about the kidnapping. The jury seemed to believe this and she was given 24 months, eight of which were unconditional. She had already served this time and was the only one to go home, while everyone else had to go back to prison.

Opera received compensation for pain and suffering
On April 1, the five convicts had dragged a Turkish man into a van in Linz, beaten him and threatened him with a gun in order to allegedly extort money from his brother. The victim suffered serial rib fractures and demanded compensation for pain and suffering, which he was awarded in the amount of 6530 euros.