Evil IS killer fooled anti-terrorist cops
VIENNA: The gunman responsible for the horrifying terrorist attack in Vienna that left four people dead was a convicted supporter of Islamic State who the government says “fooled” officials by pretending to be deradicalised.
The 20-year-old, named as Kujtim Fejzulai, was shot dead by police. He was armed with a shortened Kalashnikov, a handgun, a machete and a fake explosive belt.
According to Austrian interior minster Karl Nehammer, Fejzulai held dual Macedonian-austrian citizenship and had already been convicted last year of attempting to travel to Syria to try to join IS.
After that conviction, Fejzulai, whose name suggests he is of ethnic Albanian origin, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, but was released seven months early.
“The perpetrator managed to fool the justice system’s deradicalisation program … to get an early release,” Mr Nehammer said, suggesting Fejzulai had made special efforts to deceive the authorities.
“Therefore there were no warning signs of his radicalisation,” he added.
The country’s justice minister, Alma Zadic, said that, in line with Austrian law, Fejzulai had been paroled in December 2019 after serving two-thirds of his sentence and was on three years’ probation.
“This enables us to continue to have an influence over the perpetrator beyond the term of their prison sentence,” she said, pointing out that this would not have been the case had he simply served his full sentence.
In Fejzulai’s case, he was required to report regularly to probation counsellors and attend the deradicalisation program DERAD, “which, according to our knowledge, he did”, Ms Zadic said.
After the shocking attack, counter-terrorism police raided Fejzulai’s home — and the evidence of his radical Islamic conditioning became clear.
“It was clear the attacker, despite all the outward signs of having integrated into society, did exactly the opposite,” the minister said.
In a Facebook post, Fejzulai posed with the Kalashnikov, the hand gun and the machete that he would go on to use in the attack, together with a caption saying he was “serving the sultanate”.
A statement from the Macedonian interior ministry said Fejzulai had been born in Moedling, a commuter town to the south of Vienna.
There had been a previous attempt on the part of Vienna authorities to strip Fejzulai of his Austrian citizenship, but this was not successful because “there was not enough evidence about his activities”, Mr Nehammer said.
Eighteen further raids have taken place on addresses connected to Fejzulai, and 14 people have been detained.