German court sentences teenager for Christmas terror plot – DW – 06/28/2024

A regional court in the western German city of Cologne on Friday sentenced a 15-year-old boy to four years in detention for planning an attack on a Christmas market in the neighboring town of Leverkusen.

The court found that the Islamist-motivated youth had planned to kill apparent non-believers with a truck.

What else did the court say?

The survey revealed that young people had become increasingly radicalized since last fall.

According to the verdict, the defendant had planned to rent a truck and drive through the Christmas market in the Opladen district of Leverkusen. The defendant wanted to run over as many people as possible and thus kill them, the court said.

Two German teenagers have been charged with planning a terrorist attack at a Christmas market in the western German city of Leverkusen, German prosecutors said after the 15-year-old was arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia.

A 16-year-old boy was also arrested in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Authorities said the 15-year-old boy posted a message in a chat group about a plan to attack a Christmas market in Leverkusen, a city near Cologne in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

“Specifically, the plans were that the defendant would drive through the Christmas market in a rental truck in order to kill as many visitors as possible, whom he considered to be unbelievers,” a court spokesperson said. The alleged accomplice was supposed to film the act.

Links to the Islamic State group?

The 15-year-old had posted a video announcing the attack on “unbelievers”. In the background, an identifying symbol of the militant group known as the Islamic State (IS) could be seen.

Prosecutors said two teenagers planned to leave Germany after the attack to join a branch of the IS group in Afghanistan.

The attack on the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin is the most serious act of Islamist terrorism in Germany to date. The attacker, Anis Amri, drove a truck into the market, killing 12 people. He was later shot dead by police while fleeing to Italy.

rc/kb (AFP, afp)