SG: bomb threats in Austria, Swiss sentenced
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss citizen identified as the perpetrator of several bomb threats against institutions in Austria in October 2024 was sentenced in Switzerland at the end of last month to a 24-month suspended prison term.
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This was reported today by the Austrian news agency Apa, quoting a spokesman for the See-Gaster District Court in St Gallen.
On September 29, the man was found guilty of the offences of repeated false alarm, attempted coercion, attempted violence or threats against authorities and officials, and repeated false reporting. The sentence is not yet final.
It is not clear exactly what the threats were. However, a spokesman for the St Gallen public prosecutor’s office, also heard by the APA, indicated that “these are not serious cases” and that the prosecution had dropped some of the charges.
Last autumn, e-mails containing threats were sent against various regional police directorates, railway stations, schools and shopping centres or other Austrian institutions, such as the Vienna Regional Court. In October 2024, the Ministry of the Interior reported a total of 27 cases.
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Swiss identified in Austrian bomb threat investigation
After the investigation, a European Arrest Warrant was issued against the Swiss citizen, who was 20 years old at the time. However, the young man could not be extradited to Austria, as he would have had to give his consent to do so. The public prosecutor’s office in St Gallen consequently assumed jurisdiction over the proceedings.
Most of the series of threats are supposed to be attributable to a group from Germany, but it is not clear who is behind them or what the motive is. Initially, it was assumed that the Swiss had a connection to these people, but this remains to be established.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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