A 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Vienna Regional Court for planning an attack on the city’s Westbahnhof (West Station).
Part of the sentence was suspended, and the verdict remains subject to appeal.
The boy, identified as a supporter of the Islamic State, was remorseful and admitted his actions during the trial.
“I always own up to my mistakes,” he said, according to the APA news agency.
According to the prosecutor, the teenager had planned to cause a bloodbath using either a pistol or a bomb. He was arrested in February following a tip-off from the German Federal Criminal Police Office.
The act was allegedly planned for this summer in Vienna.
The prosecutor described the case as a “sad textbook example of online radicalisation,” noting that the pupil had consumed and shared a significant amount of extremist propaganda and sermons from Islamic State figures.
One of the plans reportedly involved stabbing a police officer, seizing the officer’s service pistol, and carrying out a shooting spree.
Investigators also linked the boy’s motive to experiences of bullying at school, where he was said to have been mocked for his size and locked in the toilet.
A house search uncovered instructions for preparing explosive materials, which authorities believe he intended to use as a detonator.
(NAN)