Higher Regional Court - Brothers sentenced after planned Islamist attack
The plan still lacked details - but the idea was shocking: a 29-year-old man wanted to kill as many visitors to a Swedish church as possible with an explosive belt. Shortly after the explosion, a second explosive device was to go off, detonated by the man's younger brother. This would have killed first responders and security personnel in the church.
The presiding judge Norbert Sakuth spoke of a "particularly reprehensible" attack plan at the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Syrian was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state and for financing terrorism. His younger brother, who lives in Bavaria, received a suspended one-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting the financing of terrorism. The verdict is not yet final.
Koran burnings were the background to the planned attack
The court was convinced that the older man, who lives in Hamburg, had decided to carry out an attack with an explosive belt by the spring of this year at the latest. He had already ordered various materials for the production, such as urea fertilizer and citric acid.
The accused initially had security authorities or a place with bars or discos nearby in mind as possible targets for the attack. Via a messenger service, he was in contact with a person who presented himself as a contact person of the Islamic State (IS) under the pseudonym "Emir". In chats with this person, a church in Sweden was then targeted.
The background was the Koran burnings in the Scandinavian country. The attack was said to be an act of revenge. An exact place of worship and time had not yet been determined.
According to the judge, the younger brother helped to order the materials. This particularly involved the urea fertilizer, which had to be ordered again after a failed delivery. The man, who lives in Kempten in the Allgäu region, did not have a jihadist-Islamist world view himself, said the judge.
The brothers were not equally successful at integration
The brothers barely looked at each other in the courtroom. The older one, in a checked shirt and with a neatly trimmed beard, mostly looked attentively at his interpreter. Only occasionally did his gaze flit to his brother, a 24-year-old with a youthful face and long hair. The different backgrounds of the two men were also discussed during the sentencing.
The brothers had come to Germany in 2015 because of the civil war in Syria, but not together, the judge explained. In the Allgäu region, the brother, who was still a minor at the time, had integrated quickly, learned German and successfully completed school. "The older brother did not achieve a comparable level of integration." When he lost his driver's license due to alcohol and drug use and thus also his job prospects, he isolated himself from his environment and turned more and more intensively to Islam.
There was hardly any contact between the brothers during their first years in Germany. However, as the mother was worried about the older brother, she had asked the younger brother to talk to him.
The 29-year-old shared his radical Islamist ideas with his brother via chats and phone calls. According to the court, the 24-year-old knew that the older man was planning an attack, emphasized Sakuth. However, he had not known the specific target for an attack and he had also been opposed to the attack plans himself, the judge continued. He had repeatedly delayed a trip to Hamburg in the hope that his brother would abandon the plan himself.
Plan was not yet far advanced
With regard to the criminal offense of financing terrorism or aiding and abetting terrorism, the court had applied a mitigated sentence, said Sakuth. This was due to the "low-value assets" of the purchased materials of less than 50 euros.
The fact that the 29-year-old had confessed to the plans and that the preparations were not yet very advanced also mitigated the sentence. On the other hand, the fact that he had involved his brother in the plan, in addition to the reprehensible nature of the planned attack, had an aggravating effect.
His partial confession was also attributed to the 24-year-old. His act was also an act of assistance of minor importance.
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- The younger brother, residing in Bavaria's Allgäu region, was also involved in the planned attack, assisting in the ordering of materials.
- The criminality charged involved preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state and financing terrorism, as admitted by the older brother living in Hamburg.
- The background for the planned attack in Sweden was the burning of the Koran in the Scandinavian country, prompting an act of revenge.
- The court considered the older brother, with his connection to a person posing as an IS contact under the pseudonym "Emir", responsible for targeting the church at an unspecified time.
- The explosive belt and materials, such as urea fertilizer and citric acid, were ordered by both brothers, with the younger one resupplying the urea fertilizer after a failed delivery.
- Integration was a topic in the courtroom, with the judge noting the younger brother's ease in integrating into German society, while the older brother struggled.
- Despite different backgrounds and level of integration, the brothers communicated regularly, with the older one sharing his radical Islamist ideas that eventually led to the planned attack.
- The court took into account the low value of the purchased materials, the partially confessed plans, and the lesser role of the younger brother in its sentencing decisions.
Source: www.stern.de
