The question of the mental state of the accused, who, according to experts, suffers from mild mental retardation and a kind of schizophrenia, is at the heart of this trial which opened on Monday at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. (southern Switzerland).
According to the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC, Attorney General), she acted “intentionally” and “without any scruple”. The court does not wish his name to be published.
The defense should rely on his mental state to refute the “terrorist” motive.
On November 24, 2020, the accused – 28 years old at the time of the events and a convert to Islam – attempted to slaughter two women in a department store in Lugano, an Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, after buying a knife there.
One of the victims, seriously injured in the neck, is a civil party and claims 440,000 Swiss francs (450,000 euros).
The second, injured in one hand, managed to control the assailant with other people.
During the attack, the young woman repeatedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “I will avenge the Prophet Muhammad”, and declared “I am here for ISIS”, in reference to the jihadist group Islamic State, according to the indictment.
She is on trial for “repeated assassination attempts” and violation of the article of the federal law prohibiting the jihadist groups Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and she is in particular accused of having wanted to commit a “terrorist act” in the name of of IS. She is also being prosecuted for practicing prostitution without declaring it between 2017 and 2020.
The verdict could fall on September 19 and the parties will be able to appeal.
During her interrogation by the court, the accused, born of a Swiss father and a Serbian mother, did not show any remorse, and even assured that if she had to do it again, she would do it again but “better… . with accomplices”.
She willingly answered many questions from the court about her modus operandi and explained that she wanted to act on December 24, before finally opting for November 24, fearing that there would be too much security on Christmas Eve. .
It was on social networks that she discovered jihadism and the Islamic State group several years ago, posting messages and photos on the subject herself. She assured that she had already expressed on these networks her desire to organize an attack.
She had long been keen, she insisted, to “do something for the Islamic State” and prove that she could commit a “terrorist act”.
It is also on these networks that she “fell in love” in 2017 with a jihadist fighter in Syria, whom she tried to join before being arrested at the Turkish-Syrian border and sent back to Switzerland, then placed in a psychiatric institution.
According to the two psychiatric experts called to the bar by the court, the young woman presents a risk of recidivism and must be placed in a closed institution where she can continue to benefit from psychiatric care.
She is currently imprisoned in early execution of sentence, and is receiving medical treatment.
Followed from a very young age by psychologists, the young woman suffered from epileptic seizures during childhood and anorexia during adolescence. She did not go to higher education but she did hairdressing and sales internships.
She explained that she became pregnant at the age of 17 from her future husband, of Afghan origin, whom she married at 19 and from whom she ended up divorcing in 2021. Her husband did not want her to study, nor that she aborts. Not wishing to take care of the child, she entrusted him to his parents, who adopted him.
Switzerland has not experienced a major jihadist attack but two knife attacks in 2020.
