- The defence has asked for a review.
Following the ruling by the Neuruppin Regional Court against a 17-year-old Chechen, the youth's defense has filed an appeal. The teenager was sentenced to a four-year juvenile detention for plotting a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in North Rhine-Westphalia. Now, the Federal Court of Justice will examine the case, a spokesperson for the court said.
The verdict was handed down for conspiracy to commit murder and the use of symbols of a banned organization. According to court statements, the charges presented by the public prosecutor's office were largely confirmed during the trial.
It was found that the accused Chechen had become increasingly radicalized. He had allegedly conspired with another 15-year-old accomplice, also convicted, to obtain a truck and use it to kill as many people as possible at the Christmas market in Leverkusen-Opladen (NRW) in the name of the Islamic State.
The younger accomplice was already sentenced to a four-year juvenile detention term by the Cologne Regional Court weeks ago. This sentence is already final.
The appeal against the ruling at the Neuruppin Regional Court was filed by the defense at the Federal Court of Justice. The Regional Court of Cologne had previously sentenced the 15-year-old accomplice to a four-year juvenile detention, a sentence that has already become final in that court.
