This article is continuously updated.
Today, Thursday, almost four months after Halloween night, a young man is on trial for the first time. The 22-year-old Syrian is accused of having been one of the ringleaders in the aforementioned riots in Linz.
According to the indictment, he had “verbalized numerous participants and asked them to take action against the police”. He also led a group that threw category 3 and 4 firecrackers at the police officers.
He is also personally charged with throwing stones and pyrotechnic objects at police officers himself, which is said to be visible on cameras. He faces up to three years in prison. During the interrogations, he himself always claimed that he was only a passive spectator.
The media interest in the trial of the 22-year-old is great. Two police officers brought the accused into the hall. He walks upright, confident.
Public prosecutor Philipp Christl reviewed the Halloween night at the beginning of the trial. That night, the 22-year-old, who is also the father of an eight-month-old child, is said to have stirred up the crowd. “He asked others to throw stones at the police officers,” emphasizes the prosecutor. The accusation is therefore serious bodily harm.
Defender draws a different picture
The defense attorney Carina Gstöttner draws a different picture of the accused: “What happened there is out of the question. My client was there, he admits. He was curious because there were a lot of people at the Taubenmarkt, so he got off the tram.” When the police began to encircle people, he should have left the place, he was aware of that, said the defense attorney. He had them The matter was underestimated: He was not aware of the intention behind the meeting.
The defendant himself also confirms this picture: I am guilty that I got out at the time. That’s my responsibility.” The 22-year-old assured the judge that he didn’t throw any stones.
“Throwing firecrackers is normal here in Syria”
And he doesn’t know the video “Linz shall become Athena” either. He believed “the police are playing with people,” says the 22-year-old. He only noticed that it wasn’t a game when objects were thrown and the police surrounded people. He didn’t see any stones, but firecrackers did. These landed between the group of young people and the police.
“You were there to the bitter end,” the judge told him. He didn’t want to believe him in justifying not having heard anything about the riots. “Throwing firecrackers is normal here in Syria,” says the accused when questioned by the judge about the danger of firecrackers.
Confronted with testimonies that the 22-year-old allegedly asked other people not to listen to the police and even threw stones at the officers, the accused began to cry. He denied that he had shouted into a caller’s cell phone “Today Linz is being fucked.”
According to the testimonies of a number of witnesses who were summoned for the afternoon, a verdict was to be passed by the jury panel in the evening.
guilty plea
After the break, the turning point in the process: the accused pleads guilty in full. Even before the break in the hearing, the judge said to the 22-year-old’s defense attorney: You still have a chance to talk to him.” And probably meant to get him to confess.
In view of the confession, the public prosecutor and the defense attorney refrain from questioning the witnesses.
lawsuits
The trial against the next alleged ringleader will take place next Monday: The 19-year-old is accused of serious communal violence – he too is said to have thrown stones and pyrotechnics at police officers.
Next Thursday, a 15-year-old and her two friends (15 and 16 years) are before the judge – they face only two and a half years in prison because of their age.
On March 20, April 3 and April 4, three men (16 and 18 years old) will be tried for assaulting police officers. And on March 24, an 18-year-old has to go to court for having commented “Tomorrow will not be Halloween but Mrk” (Mrk means brother, note) in the video “Tomorrow Linz becomes Athena” and on the night of the riot itself allegedly detonated pyrotechnic objects. His brother is still being investigated for the creation and distribution of this video.