An Afghan (24) has not been legally sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder in the Linz Regional Court. He is said to have tried to stab a Chechen (22) with a butterfly knife on June 21, 2021. The jury found him guilty by a vote of seven to one. Both the accused and the public prosecutor took time to think about it.
As a mitigating factor, the judge assessed the accused’s integrity and that the attempt remained the same. To make matters worse, however, is that the victim suffered permanent consequences. 17 operations were necessary, and both of his lower legs had to be amputated. He has also been a dialysis patient since then. In addition, the court awarded the 22-year-old a partial pain allowance of 5,000 euros and a disfigurement compensation due to the amputation of 3,000 euros.
The sequence of events seems bizarre: in the early evening of June 21, the Chechen is said to have asked a work colleague to drive him to an apartment building in Linz because he “still has something to do”. A drug dealer from Afghanistan got into the car at the said address. Apparently there was a dispute over a drug deal. The Afghan is said to have ordered compatriots to the address for “a proper beating”, as the court said. One of this group is the accused, the alleged drug dealer went into hiding and is still on the run today.
In the basement of the apartment building, the Chechen was stabbed with a butterfly knife. The Afghan, who has not yet been convicted, denies that he was the person who attacked the Chechen with the knife. In court, the Chechen was also unable to clearly state who had inflicted the injuries on him. In terms of stature, however, it was the accused. In addition, the suspect was charged with DNA traces on the murder weapon.
Two co-defendants had been dismissed from the trial by the end of the first day of the trial. You have to answer for serious bodily harm in your own negotiations.
For the public prosecutor’s office, the intention to kill was beyond dispute from the beginning of the two-day trial, but the defense attorney said there were “such doubts about the course of events” that he applied for an acquittal. “I’m sorry about what happened to the victim,” the defendant said, but said he had nothing to do with it.
