Extremism - Attack on Christmas market planned: 15-year-old sentenced
Due to a planned terror attack on a Christmas market, the Cologne Regional Court sentenced a 15-year-old boy to a juvenile prison term of four years on Friday. The verdict was handed down due to conspiracy to commit murder and disturbing the peace by threatening criminal acts, according to a court spokesperson following the non-public trial.
The Youth Chamber found it proven that the defendant had radicalized since autumn 2023. Already a few weeks later, he had arranged with a 16-year-old acquaintance to carry out an islamistically motivated attack on the Christmas market in Leverkusen-Opladen.
With a truck over the Christmas market
"Concretely, the plans called for the defendant to drive a rented truck over the Christmas market to kill as many visitors as possible, whom he considered infidels," the spokesperson said. The suspected accomplice from Brandenburg was supposed to film the act.
The Public Prosecutor's Office had initially assumed in their indictment that the defendant intended to bring a minivan filled with gas cylinders onto the Christmas market and detonate it. The execution of the planned crime, however, had presented differently in the main trial, the spokesperson said.
According to the judgment, the 15-year-old from the Rheinisch-Bergischer District had also released a video in a chat group announcing an attack on "infidels." In the background of the clip was an identification sign of the so-called Islamic State (IS).
15-year-old has made a comprehensive confession
The defendant from the Rheinisch-Bergischer District made a comprehensive confession in the trial, the court spokesperson said. "The defendant was to be sentenced according to juvenile law. In the context of juvenile law, the educational aspect is in the foreground when selecting the penalties," he explained. "In particular, the sentencing was based on the fact that the defendant fully confessed in the main trial, he had no prior convictions, and he was still young as a juvenile." The judgment is not yet legally binding.
The trial against the 16-year-old - also for conspiracy to commit murder - is scheduled to begin on July 17 at the Neuruppin Regional Court.
The terror attack on the Christmas market in Leverkusen-Opladen was planned by the 15-year-old, who had radicalized in North Rhine-Westphalia. He conspired to commit murder by plotting to drive a truck over the market and kill as many visitors as possible, considering them infidels. This was a part of his islamistically motivated plans, as revealed in a video he released in a chat group, where an IS identification sign was visible in the background. Due to his comprehensive confession, his juvenile sentence in Germany was four years in a prison term. Despite his young age, the regional court in Cologne considered the educational aspect when selecting the penalty, taking into account his lack of prior convictions. The accomplice from Brandenburg, initially assumed to film the act, will face trial for conspiracy to commit murder at the Neuruppin Regional Court on July 17.
