The 17-year-old supporter of the radical Islamist terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS), who, according to his own statements, wanted to carry out a terrorist attack with a combat knife at Vienna’s main train station on September 11, 2023 and backed out at the last moment mentally competent at the time and therefore responsible. This is the conclusion reached by a report from child and youth psychologist Julia Wachter, commissioned by the judiciary.
Developmental and adjustment disorder
According to their expertise, which is available from the APA, Puls 24 and the “Standard”, the boy has an adjustment disorder and a combined developmental disorder. However, according to the report, this condition does not correspond to a mental illness, a profound disorder of consciousness or another serious mental disorder equivalent to this condition, which is why there is no reason to exclude guilt. This means that the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the 17-year-old for being a terrorist organization, can treat him as sane, prosecute him under the terror paragraph §278b StGB and, once the investigation has been completed, file a corresponding charge with the Regional Court for Criminal Matters.
Trauma caused by the early death of the mother
Regardless of his radical Islamist views, the expert does not currently consider the boy to be dangerous enough to recommend that he be placed in prison in the sense of Section 21 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code in the event of a conviction. The 17-year-old was traumatized by the early death of his mother – who died when he was six years old. Unfavorable social circumstances and other stress factors, such as bullying experienced at school, had an impact on him. All of this would have resulted in “a personality with a weak ego, insecure, suggestible and susceptible to negative influences (such as extremist content) with low self-efficacy expectations and at the same time a great need to belong and an unrealistically high desire for success and recognition.” However, the report shows that the requirements for placement in a forensic therapeutic center cannot be justified “from a clinical-psychological and youth psychological perspective”.
Numerous risk factors
However, the expert points out “numerous risk factors which, without targeted, multi-professional countermeasures, increase the likelihood of future crimes (including violent or sexual crimes)”. She therefore recommends that after his release from prison, the 17-year-old should be placed in a social-educational shared apartment with intensive multi-professional support and that mandatory probation assistance, psychotherapy and participation in a de-radicalization program be ordered.
After the boy’s arrest, the terror suspect was subjected to the so-called DyRiAS procedure as part of juvenile court investigations to help make a detention decision. DyRiAS stands for Dynamic Risk Analysis Systems, with the Islamism radicalization screener you can identify signs of radicalization processes that are taking place. 13 relevant areas of behavior are queried from which it can be concluded whether the respective test subject has violence-oriented radicalization in the Islamist area or not. For the 17-year-old, the result was clear. Solidified radicalization was confirmed in all 13 areas.
Radical content on social media
In addition, four so-called red flag factors were identified: the young person wanted to live in a community of IS supporters and be recognized by them and therefore had the desire to travel to an IS combat zone. He already had access to weapons and an extremist environment – he frequented a mosque in Vienna’s twelfth district on a weekly basis, where radical Islamists, including the attacker on November 2, 2020, had said their prayers and heard sermons. He also networked with like-minded people via Telegram, TikTok and Instagram and was involved in group chats with radical content. In a Telegram chat with 19 Islamists, after a previous argument with his father, he announced the attack at the main train station, in which – as he later explained himself – he wanted to die and find entry into paradise.
“They make people crazy”
He also confirmed the latter to the child and adolescent psychologist who assessed him. He wanted to die as a “martyr” and kill “infidels” in order to get “to the VIP paradise”, “in the sense of I give my life, he (meaning: God, note) gives me the garden”. During the specialist medical examination, the 17-year-old also noted that he was “too lazy” to build an explosive belt or a bomb, so he bought a knife after he couldn’t get a firearm in a Viennese gun shop. At the main train station, however, his courage “failed him”. He planned to “stab people randomly” in order to be shot by the police. He would only have “spared” children and older people.
In a conversation with the expert, the 17-year-old finally emphasized that he was no longer a supporter of the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS), but “just a normal, God-fearing Muslim.” When asked by the experts whether he felt hatred towards anyone, the young terror suspect replied: “Infidels, cheeky police officers and homosexuals. They drive people crazy.”
