Planning an attack: young Aargau man charged
Keystone-SDA
An 18-year-old man from the canton of Aargau is accused of planning a knife attack in the name of the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS), which is banned in Switzerland. He has now been charged by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland.
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Last June, the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) filed a criminal complaint with the OAG against the defendant based on information suggesting that he might be planning a terrorist attack, the OAG said in a press release on Thursday. On the OAG’s orders, the young man was immediately arrested by fedpol, with the support of the Aargau cantonal police.
At the end of the investigation, the OAG accused the defendant of having planned a terrorist attack in the name of IS from around the beginning of 2025. The plan took the form of a knife attack on randomly selected victims.
According to the indictment, the defendant took precautions to carry out this plan, obtaining relevant instructions, networking with like-minded individuals, researching the religious justification for such an attack, and ordering a suitable knife online.
The presumption of innocence applies until a legally binding verdict is reached at the Federal Criminal Court.
Translated from German by AI/jdp
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