Native of Chechnya convicted in Austria for promoting IS

An Austrian court has sentenced a 22-year-old native of Chechnya to 2.5 years in prison, having found him guilty of propagating the ideas of the “Islamic State” (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia and in some other countries.

The verdict was handed down by the court of the city of Saint Pelten, which established that the young man posted militants’ photos and symbols in a social network, and showed terrorists’ videos depicting executions to his friends.

Investigators have also claimed that the native of Chechnya tried to buy firearms and urged his friends to go with him to Syria and the IS there, the “Kavkaz.Realii” reports.

The convict refused to plead guilty, stating that he was watching militants' videos just from boredom. His advocate asked to acquit him, as he suffers from mental disabilities.

The court took into account the state of his health, but sentenced him to a real prison term in view of his previous convictions for minor offenses.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that on August 25, the Austrian Minister of Internal Affairs announced the detention of nine natives of Chechnya. One of the detainees was suspected of involvement in the IS, banned in Russia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.