On November 2, 2020, Kujtim Fejzulai, 20, sowed terror in the heart of the Austrian capital, killing four passers-by, injuring 23 others and sowing panic in this country of 9 million inhabitants usually very safe.
Before taking action, this Austrian had recorded a message of allegiance to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
His absence hovered over the first day of proceedings at the Vienna Regional Court.
Arrived under high police escort, the defendants – five of whom are in pre-trial detention – appeared with their faces hidden by an anti-Covid mask, in a crowded courtroom closed to cameras.
– “scapegoats” –
They are four Austrians, a Kosovar and a Chechen aged 21 to 32, and suspected of having “facilitated the execution of crimes in the name of their common affiliation with the radical Islamist movement”.
All have pleaded not guilty to the most serious charges.
Their support may have taken the form of the supply of weapons, logistical aid or even incitement to violence, according to the prosecution. They face 20 years in prison to life imprisonment, depending on the case.
The prosecutor, who cannot be named for security reasons, denounced a “sneaky, almost bestial” attack. Against the six men on the bench, she brandished a bundle of evidence drawing “a very clear picture, leaving no room for doubt”.
At the helm, the defense lawyers on the contrary denounced “risky clues”, “collapsed evidence”, an investigation aimed at finding “scapegoats” and hiding the errors of authorities unable to prevent the drama.
For Me Astrid Wagner, who defends the Chechen Adam Makhaev, his client recognizes the arms trafficking but not his responsibility in the attack. “He didn’t know what they would be used for,” pleaded the lawyer, interviewed by AFP.
– “A form of justice” –
Relatives of the victims are hoping for “some form of justice”, explains Me Mathias Burger, who represents the parents and brother of Nedzip Vrenezi, a 21-year-old young man who fell under fire from the assailant.
The proceedings are expected to resume in early December, with a verdict expected in February 2023 at the earliest.
According to prosecutors, the attack in Vienna was part of a series of events “of particular importance”.
The prosecution thus mentions the re-publication of the cartoons of Muhammad in September 2020, at the opening of the trial of the 2015 attack on the editorial staff of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, and the attacks that followed, including the beheading by Professor Samuel Paty, in the Paris region in October 2020.
Among the targets identified was a French restaurant in the same area, which was closed that evening.
After the tragedy, the Austrian government had been strongly criticized for its failures in the supervision of the shooter.
Kujtim Fejzulai, whose parents were from North Macedonia, was convicted in 2018 of trying to join IS in Syria.
The intelligence services had been informed of his attempt to buy weapons after his release from prison and of contacts he had had with jihadists from neighboring countries, but they had not detected his dangerousness.
In response, Austria introduced in 2021 electronic monitoring for released jihadists and created a separate criminal offense to condemn crimes motivated by “religious extremism”.
