“Would kill again”

No remorse: “I would kill even more people”

The trial in Klagenfurt lasted nearly twelve hours.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

Last year’s terrorist attack in Villach claimed six victims: A 14-year-old was murdered in the knife attack, and five other people were seriously injured. The Syrian accused of the crime pleaded guilty during the high-security trial at the Klagenfurt Regional Court—but showed no remorse. The verdict: Life in prison!

The terrorism trial was supposed to last two days, but the lawyers’ closing arguments were finished in less than an hour—after which the defendant was questioned in detail for the first time. The 24-year-old sits secured behind bulletproof glass, guarded by four heavily armed officers. White shirt, black pants, impassive gaze: During the opening of the trial in Klagenfurt, he doesn’t flinch. He smiles only once: when a harrowing crime scene reconstruction video is played that also shows him.

Statements cause astonishment
“I’ve already said everything,” the Kurdish man states tersely at first. But he eventually responds to the court’s questions—and his statements leave everyone stunned. The defendant claims he still feels committed to the terrorist organization Islamic State.

Remorse? None whatsoever. He regrets nothing and would do it all exactly the same way again. What’s more: he would even “kill even more people—the goal was at least ten.” Men between the ages of 14 and 45—just “as IS dictates.”

The trial begins Wednesday morning in Klagenfurt.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

Yet his story had once begun quite differently. The 24-year-old had originally fled Syria to avoid being drafted into the war. “I was afraid for my life back then,” he had told the police. His family also fled and was scattered across various European countries. 

Rapid radicalization within three months
But then, according to the investigation, rapid radicalization followed: Within just three months, the previously unremarkable young man became a suspected IS fighter. Even today, he says he remains committed to the terrorist organization’s mission. His goal, he says, is to help establish an IS state.

When asked by the judge where this state was to be established, the defendant replied without hesitation: “All over the world.”

The attack in Villach lasted only 84 seconds
The crime itself is brought into the courtroom via the video mentioned above. It shows the attacker roaming through downtown Villach, where life is bustling. 

And then, in the end, it lasts exactly 84 seconds. That is how long it took before, for many people, nothing was the same as before. For in that brief time, six people fell victim to the terrorist attack—a total of six minutes elapsed between the first knife attack and the arrest. Incidentally, two female police officers were the first responders to reach the perpetrator; they were able to subdue and handcuff him. “He didn’t resist,” they say.

Today, the 24-year-old sits in the dock as a suspected terrorist and murderer. In the Klagenfurt courtroom, a special glass enclosure was even erected to isolate him. For even after a long period in solitary confinement, nothing has changed regarding his dangerousness. “It was a monstrous act,” the court psychiatrist also says. “One that cannot be explained by any illness or mental disorder.” The religious fanaticism, the delusion, is baffling. “But one can only stand by and say: So this exists, too.”

For the goal of the attacker, who was radicalized online within three months, was to die as a martyr, to spread fear and terror, “to shake civil society,” as it is said. He did not succeed. “We are Villach” has become synonymous with solidarity, community, and strength.

And how does civil society punish such a crime? The maximum sentence is life imprisonment, which is what the prosecutor sought. The jury did not take long to follow suit: a unanimous guilty verdict for terrorist offenses, primarily for murder and attempted murder—life imprisonment, not yet final.