MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2021) The Vienna Regional Court on Wednesday launched criminal proceedings against five alleged militants of the Islamic State (IS, a terrorist organization banned in Russia), the newspaper Die Presse reported.
The main suspect in the case is a 32-year-old Chechen man named Turpal I. The prosecution maintains that in late August 2013, he left Austria for Syria with his family to fight for the IS under the name Abu Aische. The man is accused of ordering at least seven beheadings in a small village outside the city of Aleppo, as well as fatal shootings of those living in a residential building in the town of Haritan in northern Syria. He is also suspected of making three women in the town slaves. The defendant's lawyer denies all charges.
Another suspect subject to trial is Mirsad O., alias Ebu Tejma, a radical Islamist who on Wednesday pleaded guilty in offenses involving the recruitment of young Chechens, including Turpal I, into the IS.�
The meetings, which are scheduled to last until the end of July, are held in compliance with the strictest security measures. The hearing was guarded by ten armed special forces personnel from the judicial guard in masks, while photography and filming were strictly prohibited.
