In the trial against the head of the terrorist militia IS in Germany, the court imposed a heavy sentence.
Three other men were also convicted for inciting radical struggle.
Celle - Long imprisonment for the Germany head of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS): The Higher Regional Court in Celle sentenced 37-year-old Iraqi Abu Walaa to ten and a half years in prison on Wednesday for support and membership in the militia and terrorist financing.
The judges are convinced that the hate preacher and three co-defendants between the ages of 32 and 55 radicalized young people, especially in the Ruhr area and Lower Saxony, and sent them to the IS battle areas.
Three co-defendants received prison terms of between four and eight years.
Abu Walaa was the imam of the mosque of the now banned association “German-speaking Islamic District Hildesheim”.
A German Serb who was also accused and who received eight years' imprisonment used his apartment in Dortmund as a prayer center and also temporarily housed the later Berlin Christmas market bomber Anis Amri.
In the grounds of the judgment, the court listed a number of other Islamists who were radicalized by the Dortmund resident and a co-accused Turkish from Duisburg in the back room of his travel agency.
Among other things, young people were shown execution videos there.
The man from Duisburg was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
The court described the dramatic consequences of radicalization using individual fates.
For example, twin brothers from Castrop-Rauxel, a former Bundeswehr soldier and a student, were indoctrinated by the defendants from Dortmund and Duisburg and traveled to Syria.
Both died as suicide bombers.
One killed 12 Iraqi soldiers, the other 140 soldiers in a serious attack in Baghdad.
When they left Turkey, they made a stop at their mother's, who was vacationing there without talking about her actual plans.
Islamic State: Hate preacher Abu Walaa has to go to prison for ten and a half years
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Abu Walaa, the alleged leader of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in Germany, will appear in the Higher Regional Court.
© Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
Abu Walaa was appointed by the Islamic State as its representative in Germany, said the presiding judge Frank Rosenow.
He was a leader with direct contact with IS and influence in its territory.
In this respect, he found an Islamist who had emigrated from Hildesheim a position in the IS secret service, he was responsible for monitoring the fighters from Germany.
In conclusion, Rosenow outlined the Dortmund accused as a central figure in the Islamist-jihadist scene in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Duisburg-based man being another representative.
The defendants were arrested in November 2016.
The activities of the group around Abu Walaa did not go unnoticed by the security authorities.
"Murat" was a regular in Dortmund, an undercover agent from the State Criminal Police Office in North Rhine-Westphalia, who also followed Amri's heels.
The federal prosecutor's office also relied on information from this undercover agent, who, however, did not receive permission to testify in the process.
Her key witness was a young man from Gelsenkirchen, who got into Islamist circles as a teenager, but then turned away from IS and worked with the authorities.
Judgment in Celle: The presiding judge rejected the representation of a defense attorney
In the mammoth trial, which began in September 2017, the defendants were convicted of the acts they were accused of, said the presiding judge.
There was a striking correspondence between the statements of the key witness, other witnesses and the information of the undercover agent.
Rosenow rejected the statement by a defense attorney that it was a show trial in which the verdict had already been determined.
Such clichés are the breeding ground for radicalization.
“No judgments against Muslims have been pronounced here.” Rather, it is a matter of protecting peace-loving people of all religions and beliefs.
The federal prosecutor's office had demanded eleven and a half years imprisonment for Abu Walaa, and between four and a half and ten years for the other defendants.
The defense, on the other hand, had pleaded for acquittal or significantly milder sentences.
She had questioned the credibility of the key witness and accused the undercover agent of inciting attacks herself.
The defense found the prosecution's allegations largely undetectable.
(dpa)
List of rubric lists: © Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
